


Stony + Two

by ibstudent



Series: Superfamily [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Nick Fury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kidnapping, M/M, Mild Torture Descriptions, Nightmares, Not Canon Compliant, Original Female Character - Freeform, Original Male Character - Freeform, Pre-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Superfamily (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-03-07 21:44:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 30,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13444008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibstudent/pseuds/ibstudent
Summary: Peggy begins to have nightmares, but doesn't talk. Steve and Tony don't know what to do.





	1. Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a photo and it's how I picture Peggy, but I'm not sure how to post it here. If anyone has an idea that'd be great. Also I don't have a beta, so if you see any mistakes please let me know!

Margaret Sarah Maria Stark-Rogers had her entire family wrapped around her little finger within a week. It wasn’t surprising, considering how adorable she was. That factor was only multiplied when she and Peter did anything together. It made everyone in the room want to coo and squeal, they were that cute. 

That being said, she also had her fair share of problems. Clearly, being left on the steps of the firehouse hadn’t been the start of her problems. It was clear that she had had prior traumatic experiences. Peter had come from a troubled home, Steve and Tony knew that off the bat. But Peter had only been six  _ months _ when OCS was called. Peggy had been at least three  _ years  _ when she was left at the firestation. 

She called Tony and Steve “daddy” and “papa,” learning the names from Peter within the first few days. Other than daddy, papa, and Peter, Peggy didn’t talk. At all. At first, Tony and Steve  thought she was just shy and adjusting to her new surroundings. But when a month had passed without her talking at all? It was crystal clear that there underlying issues at play. 

And then the nightmares started.

It wasn’t unusual for people in the tower to have nightmares, they all had turbulent pasts. But being woken up to your daughter’s screams on a nightly basis? There was only so much the parents could dismiss as usual.

.

Steve jolted awake. He turned over and saw Peggy standing next to the bed. Her beautiful little emerald eyes were positively  _ full  _ of tears and she was holding onto a pink, fuzzy blanket. (It was gift from Tasha.) Peggy wasn’t making any noise, she was just standing next to the bed, crying in silence, waiting for one or both of her parents to wake up.  Steve quickly scooped her up into a cuddle.

“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Can you talk to Papa?” Steve rubbed her back as he got up, thinking maybe if walked it would help to soothe the crying toddler. 

Tony rolled over, saw Peggy in Steve’s arms, and was immediately awake.

“What happened?”

Steve was making shushing noises, “I’m not sure. I woke up and she was standing next to the bed, sobbing. I think she’s calming down.”

Tony padded over to rub Peggy’s back, “Hey, baby, Daddy’s here. Can you tell us what’s wrong babygirl? Please?”

Both Tony and Steve sat down on the bed once Peggy had stopped crying, trying to get their little girl back to sleep. They had almost succeeded, her eyelids were fluttering when Peter walked in, yawning and rubbing his eyes, “Whas goin on?”

All of the walls in the tower were soundproof, so technically speaking, Peter shouldn’t have been able to hear anything from his room down the hall. The running theory was that with his spider powers, came enhanced senses, similar to Steve’s.

Tony stood up to pick their son up, “Peggy had a nightmare, baby. Why are you up?”

Peter yawned again, “Had a funny dream Daddy. And then I woke up and heard you and papa in here”

Tony brought Peter over to the bed, where Steve was still trying to get Peggy to sleep, “Was it a good dream, munchkin?”

Another yawn and Peter snuggled closer to Tony, “Don’t ‘member, Papa. Just funny. I think Uncle Clint was in it.”

Tony grinned, “Well then it was probably weird, and more than likely a good dream, huh, bud?”

“Mhm, Daddy.” Tony tucked the blanket tighter around Peter, “You’re really warm, daddy.”

With Peter practically asleep in Tony’s arms, and Peggy clearly not going anywhere, Steve suggested that they just let the kids sleep with them tonight.

Tony yawned while nodding, “Sounds like a plan.”

And that’s how they ended up in a family sandwich, Steve and Tony curled around Peggy and Peter, hoping against hope that the nightmares would stay away.  


	2. Getting Desperate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Peggy is supposed to be around 3. I'm aware that I might be making her seem younger than she is. I think I have something in mind for this though,so just bear with me please? Thank you!

When the nightmares continued, Steve and Tony were verging on desperate. Peggy had come into their room every night for the last week. She never made any noise, just stood on one side of the bed and cried in silence until one, or both, of her fathers woke up. 

At first, they thought they’d be able to work through it. They both dealt with nightmares and it wasn’t like either of them required that much sleep. Steve and Tony had been going on the assumption that they’d be able to work through Peggy’s nightmares much in the same way they worked through their own, by talking. Unfortunately, Peggy wouldn’t talk. They thought maybe there was some physical reason as to why she couldn’t talk, so they took her to the doctor. She said Peggy was physically fine, there was no reason that she wasn’t talking. And so they were back to square one, a crying toddler every night and no way to figure out what was going on. 

.

Tony stumbled into the kitchen, a still sleepy Peter in his arms, “Morning,” he mumbled as he kissed Steve.

Steve had a cup of coffee ready to go, “Morning.” He dropped a kiss on Peter’s head as well, “Morning, munchkin, sleep well?”

Peter yawned as he reached out for Steve, “Yeah, papa. Can I have Froot Loops?”

Steve scooped Peter up in his free arm, “You’ll have to ask daddy, Pete, my arms are full.” It was true, Peggy was in Steve’s left arm, and he now had Peter in his right. Superstrength or not, Steve still only had two arms and two hands.

So Peter turned towards Tony, “Daddy? Can I have Froot Loops?”

Tony looked up from getting his second cup of coffee, “Let me see if we have any, Petey, you might have eaten them all.” He padded over to the cupboard and pulled out a mostly empty box of froot loops. “You’re in luck, bud, there’s enough left for one more bowl.”

Peter was suddenly wide awake and squirming out of Steve’s hold, “Yay!” He turned to look up at Peggy, “Wait, does Peggy want them?”

Steve looked down at the little girl in his arms, “Peggy? Did you want the Froot Loops, baby?”

Peggy just popped her thumb in her mouth. Peter and Tony both took this as a no, as Tony poured the rest of the Froot Loops in a bowl while Peter got the milk.

Steve got up to get more coffee, handing Peggy to Tony, “I have to go into SHIELD today. Fury’s got some new recruits and he wants me to look them over. And knowing SHIELD, there’ll be more paperwork to do.”

Surprisingly, it was Peter who put up a protest, “Papa! Do you haaaave to go? Can’t you stay and play today? I wanted to show Peggy my volcano rockets!”

At “volcano rockets,” Steve just raised an eyebrow at Tony. Tony looked anywhere but at Steve.

Steve rolled his eyes but had a fond grin on his face, “As much as I wish I could skip today, munchkin, I haven’t gone in in a while. I really wish I could stay and play today though. Maybe we can show Peggy the volcano rockets tomorrow?” Steve still wasn’t sure why Peter even  _ had  _ volcano rockets, but he suspected either Tony or Clint had something to do with it.

Peter just pouted and turned toward Tony, “Daddy? Can we  _ please _ play with my volcano rockets  _ today? _ Pretty please?”

Tony finally looked up, “I have some stuff to get done in the shop today, bud,” Peter pouted some more, thinking he wouldn’t get to play with the volcano rockets that day, “but, If I can get everything done in time, we’ll see. Sound like a compromise?”

Peter nodded furiously, it looked like his head might come flying off, “Daddy? What’s a compromise?”

Tony started to answer, but Steve didn’t hear him. He needed to get Peggy dressed, knowing getting Peter dressed would take Tony forever. Peggy snuggled closer to him as they walked toward her bedroom.

Steve opened the door to Peggy’s room. Despite the fact that they had only had three days before they brought Peggy home, her room was every bit as homey as Peter’s. Steve had painted rainbows and ponies on the walls, and Tony, with help from Pepper, ordered the 


	3. Date Night Gone Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's slightly shorter. Also the updates might not come as often as this one did. I have a vague end goal in mind for this story, but nothing concrete right now. So if there isn't an update for a while, it's gonna be me figuring out where to go from here.

Eventually, Steve and Tony gave up trying to get Peggy to sleep in her own room. When she slept with them, the nightmares almost never happened, and when they did, she calmed down quicker when she woke up looking at her parents instead of her own room. 

However, having a toddler in the bed was starting to drive a wedge between the couple. Putting the kids to bed usually meant a few hours for just the two of them to talk and spend time together. With Peggy in bed with them, they didn’t have that luxury anymore. Date nights had also gone out the window when the nightmares became a thing. The first time they tried, Tony thought they could go on an overnight trip, they could leave later and be back fairly early. Steve wasn’t so sure, but Tony managed to convince him that the team could take care of the kids for a night.

Turns out, they couldn’t. Tony had just barely landed the quinjet, when he got an urgent call from Tasha. And Steve got one at the same time from Clint.

“Tasha?”

Her voice sounded panicked, a sound no one ever wanted to hear from Natasha Romanov, “Tony, you and Steve need to get back here now. Peggy had a nightmare or something. She won’t let any of us touch her and she keeps calling for you guys.”

Tony was already getting the jet back in the air, “Is Peter there? Has he tried talking to her? She might let him touch her.”

“He’s here. She’s backed in the corner of her room. She won’t even let Peter come near her. He’s trying his best, and we’re trying to keep him calm, but I don’t know how much longer we can Tony. You and Steve just need to get your asses back here NOW.”

“Already in the air, be there ASAP.”

Steve hung up at the same time, “I’m assuming Tasha filled you in?”

Tony pushed the jet to go as fast as it could, “Yeah.” He paused, “Steve?”

Steve came forward into the cockpit, “Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Is she ever gonna get past this? Are  _ we  _ ever gonna get past this?”

“JARVIS, autopilot.” Steve tugged Tony out of the pilot’s seat into his arms, “I don’t know, Tony. I just know that Peggy needs us, and I’m assuming Peter does too. Let’s just try and focus on that right now.” Steve was having a hard time not breaking down, but one of them needed to be dry eyed when they got home, and Steve wasn’t about to tell Tony to suck it up and stop crying.

They stayed locked in each others arms, finding comfort where they could. JARVIS let them know when they needed to land, which Tony always liked to do himself.

Steve was standing by the hatch, “You ready?”

Tony looked back at him, “Ya know, if you had asked me that when we brought Peggy home, my answer would have been a pretty emphatic yes. Now though? I just don’t know.” He ran his hands over his face, a sure sign of frustration or exhaustion. In this case, it was probably both. Tony didn’t like not knowing how to fix things. The fact that the thing that needed to be fixed was Peggy? It was driving him up a wall.

Steve came back up to the cockpit, “Just one step at a time, sweetheart, huh? One step at a time.” He pressed a kiss to Tony’s head.

Tony landed at the tower, whispering, “One step at a time.”

.

.

The couple rushed out of the jet as soon as the door was open, wanting to get to Peggy and Peter ASAP. Tasha met them in the elevator.

“How is she?”

Tasha sighed, “She’s not screaming anymore, but the sobbing hasn’t stopped. When I came to find you, Peter wasn’t crying yet, but if Peggy cries much longer, he just might start.” She paused, “It’s been a long night for both of them. I think they’ll calm down once they see you though.”

Steve wrapped his arm around Tony’s shoulders, “Thanks, Tasha. I know nightmares weren’t exactly what you had pictured when you agreed to babysit.”

Tony gave her a smile, agreeing with Steve.

Tasha sighed again, pursing her lips, “I’m fine with nightmares, I just don’t understand why she won’t let anyone touch her. Usually when kids have nightmares, they just want to be held.”

Tony spoke up, “Usually she goes straight to Steve when she has nightmares. She’ll let me hold her, but Peggy is papa’s little princess.”

The door opened and Steve could hear her sobs. And Peter’s faint whimpers. “Tony, you get Peter. I’m gonna try to calm Peggy down.”

“Oh shit, is Peter crying too?”

“That’s what I’m hearing.”

The two were jogging through the penthouse, making a beeline for Peggy’s room. They opened the door and saw just what Tasha had described, Peggy curled in the corner sobbing. The only thing different from Tasha’s description was Peter. Their little boy was curled in the corner, valiantly trying not to cry but doing so, nonetheless. Now they had two sobbing children to contend with.

Tony immediately scooped Peter up, whispering to him, “Hey, Petey, what’s going on? What’s the matter?”

Steve went to get Peggy. There were tears streaming down her face and she was breathing in heaving gasps, but she startled when Steve picked her up. When she saw it was Steve, Peggy started whimpering, “Papa!”

Steve just hugged her, bouncing just slightly, “It’s alright, baby, Papa’s here, so is Daddy. Did you have a nightmare, sweetheart?”

Peggy just sobbed. Steve could hear Peter quieting down in the background, Tony calming him down, trying to get him to sleep. Steve wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, if Peter was asleep Peggy might fall asleep too. He stood there for what seemed like forever, just holding Peggy, swaying back and forth, keeping his cheek pressed to the top of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would anyone be opposed to me jumping forward to them trying to find a solution to Peggy's nightmares? I don't know that I could write enough to get to that filler. Just leave me a comment with your opinion? Thanks!


	4. Preschool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just kind of a filler chapter. There's nothing super important that happens, some family bonding, but that's about it. The next one will be better.

A few weeks later, Steve brought up sending Peggy to preschool. After all, Peter had gone, why shouldn’t Peggy? Tony wasn’t so enthusiastic. 

“Steve! She can’t even sleep through the night, why would we send her to be by herself all day? How would she even react to that? She was already abandoned once, what if she thinks we’re abandoning her too?” Tony was spouting question left and right, Steve could see he was getting agitated. 

He walked over to where Tony was in the shop, “We don’t have to make a decision right now. I just thought that maybe getting her around other kids might be a good thing. But if you don’t think she’s ready, then we can wait.”

Tony turned around, wrapping his arms around Steve, “I just want to protect her. But I don’t know how. How can I? How can we? She won’t tell us what’s wrong.”

Steve didn’t have an answer for that, he just tilted Tony’s head up and kissed him. Afterward, he pressed their foreheads together, “I don’t know sweetheart, I just don’t know.”  
.  
.  
Pepper and Tasha were the ones to finally talk Tony into it, he had been on the fence for a while. The idea of sending his little girl anywhere for any length of time still scared him, hell, it still scared him sending Peter to kindergarten every morning, but he agreed that preschool would be good for Peggy. 

“Tony, Peter was just fine, why wouldn’t Peggy be?” Pepper was simultaneously working on paperwork. 

“Because Peter almost always slept through the night! Peggy hasn’t gone one night in over three months without a nightmare!” Tony was pacing, which was never a good sign. 

Tasha was filing her nails, “I think you should at least try it. If it seems to be causing more harm than hurt, then bring her back home. Just an idea.”

Tony sat down and sighed, “You’re right! Fine! We’ll try it!” Then, “If either of you tell Steve I said you were right, I’ll set DUM-E loose on your floors.” 

Pep and Nat just laughed.  
.  
.  
A week later, Steve and Tony were taking Peggy to preschool. They both thought they’d have to pry her off of them to get her to stay. In reality, Peggy saw the toys and took off without so much as a hug goodbye. Tony and Steve stood there gaping in disbelief before the teacher finally shooed them out. 

“You can pick her up at two. See you then!” The door was firmly shut in front of them. 

The couple walked back to the car in a state of shock, “I can’t believe it.” Tony got in the driver’s seat, not that it really mattered, the car drove itself. 

Steve took a deep breath, “I can’t either. I thought that’d she’d cry or refuse to let us go or something.” 

Tony looked over and looped Steve’s fingers with his, “Maybe it will be good for her. Bring her out of her shell a little bit?”  
.  
As it turned out, preschool did wonders for Peggy. She was talking now, not very much, and not very often, but she did say more than papa and daddy and Peter. Another plus of starting preschool was that the nightmares came less often. Now, instead of every night, they happened two or three nights a week. Nat thought that maybe she was just tired and therefore sleeping better, and Tony and Steve were inclined to believe her. Unfortunately, making friends at preschool meant sharing, which meant that any number of germs were being exchanged at any given time. And with two small kids in the house, when one got sick, so did the other. 

“Papa!” 

Steve jerked awake, thinking that Peggy was having a nightmare, only to discover that it wasn’t Peggy that was crying, it was Peter. Tony was already running for Peter’s room when Steve heard Peggy. 

“Daddy!” 

They met in the hallway, each heading to the bedroom they had been called to. Tony walked into Peggy’s room and was immediately met by the scent of vomit and the sounds of Peggy crying. 

“Oh sweetheart,” Tony walked over and picked Peggy up out of bed, “let’s get you cleaned up huh?” He walked towards the bathroom where JARVIS already had the bath running. Peggy’s clothes were wet and stained with puke. Tony just peeled them off and checked the water. Not too hot but not too cold either. He put Peggy in the tub just as Steve walked in with Peter. Peter looked just as bad as Peggy did, if not worse. Both of the kids were still crying, but they also desperately needed baths. Steve and Tony did their best to calm them down while getting them clean, hoping that they wouldn’t throw up again until after they were out of the bath. 

Luck was on their side that night. They were able to get Peter and Peggy clean and redressed before Peter threw up again. His cries broke Steve’s heart. 

“Papa! It hurts, make it stop!” He wasn’t quite sobbing yet, but almost. 

Steve picked him up, rubbing his tummy as best he could, “I wish I could baby, but there’s not a whole lot I can do right now buddy.” 

Steve remembered being sick as a kid back in the 40’s. It had been miserable, but there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about it. Even with modern medicine, there wasn’t a whole lot to be done for the stomach flu. Steve would have gladly taken on both Peggy and Peter’s sickness if he could have, but he knew that was impossible. Peter’s crying continued and all Steve could do was be there for him. 

Tony was in the same situation with Peggy. She was sobbing and it was breaking Tony’s heart. 

“Daddy! Tummy hurts! Hurts, daddy, hurts!” 

This resulted in more sobbing, which led to Peggy throwing up again. Tony just held her, knowing there wasn’t much else he could do. Most of the team had gotten the stomach flu before Peter was in the picture, and the only thing to do was wait it out. It hadn’t been pleasant for any of them, but for Peggy? Tony didn’t even want to imagine what that felt like. 

Eventually, both kids emptied their stomachs, which let them get some rest while Tony and Steve cleaned the bedrooms. Having two kids was messy enough, but having two sick kids? It made the whole floor look like a pigsty. 

“It would just have to be a stomach bug.” Tony groaned while cleaning out the third puke bucket. 

Steve didn’t look super thrilled either, “Well at least they’re asleep now. When they wake up we need to try to get them to at least drink something. Do we have any ginger  
ale?”

“JARVIS?” 

“There is not any in the refrigerator on this floor, however there is a case on the communal floor. It is clearly marked with Agent Barton’s name though, Sir.” 

“Put a couple cases on next week’s grocery list J. Let Clint know the kids are sick and need the ginger ale.” 

JARVIS came back with a response several minutes later, “Agent Barton is happy to give the ginger ale to the children. However, he wants to watch Peter the next Friday he is well.” 

Steve sighed, “Tell him that’s fine JARVIS. Not like we could keep Peter away from bad habits forever.”  
.  
The stomach bug ended up lingering for the next three days, in which Peter and Peggy slept, cried, and threw up, in that order. By the end, Tony and Steve were exhausted. 

Steve was flopped face first on their bed and let out a groan of defeat. 

Tony walked in with a very unimpressed look on his face, “Scoot soldier, I need in there too. You at least have a supersoldier serum running in you, I, on the other hand, am a normal human being who hasn’t slept in the last three days. So budge over.” 

They fell asleep, dead to the world. Wild horses couldn’t have disturbed their sleep. When Peter and Peggy woke up, JARVIS called Clint and Natasha, knowing that Steve and Tony had 6 hours of sleep combined in the last 72 hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of doing some more Peter-centric chapters. It wouldn't be until later, when I get to the root of Peggy's problems. But I think putting some more of Peter in this story would be a good thing, as most of it had been centered around Peggy. What do you guys think? Leave me a comment with your opinion!


	5. Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will lead more into Peggy's past. It might be moving kind of fast, but I didn't feel that I could write enough filler info to not have this change be abrupt. Enjoy!

Steve had been right, whether Tony wanted to admit it or not. Preschool was good for Peggy. The nightmares were down to two nights a week at the max, and she was talking more and more. If anyone asked her about her past though, she bottled everything right back up. Everyone had learned to steer the conversation away from Peggy’s past when she was around. Life was finally beginning to settle down again, both of the kids were in school, Steve was back to working part time at SHIELD, and Tony was back to spending all day in the shop. Life was good, until one day it wasn’t. 

It started just like every other day. Steve got up for a run and Tony stumbled into the shower. JARVIS already had coffee waiting in the kitchen. Tony got the kids up after coffee, and Steve was making breakfast. Steve went to get Peggy ready and Tony took Peter. There were kisses goodbye all around and then Steve took the kids to school on his way to SHIELD. Everything was normal. Until JARVIS set off the alarm. 

The alarm that Tony had purposely created the day they brought Peter home, it had been revamped to include Peggy when they brought her home too. Tony had grown up as the son of a wealthy billionaire, he knew that there would be kidnapping attempts. He just never thought anyone would ever succeed. 

He’d never forget when that alarm went off. It went off at exactly 12:06 in the afternoon. JARVIS’s voice came through the speakers immediately after. 

“Sir, the children’s trackers have been removed. Their heart rates were spiking sharply before the trackers were removed. I have taken the liberty of prepping the Mark 45 for flight. Captain Rogers has already been notified.” 

Tony was already walking into the armor, “J, last known whereabouts. Stat.” 

“Already programmed in Sir.” 

Tony didn’t know what to think in that moment. He had been so prepared for this, but nothing could have ever prepared him for the moment it actually happened. If his entire being wasn’t focused on finding his children, he was fairly positive he’d be in the middle of a panic attack. As it was, he just pushed the thrusters to go even faster.   
.  
.  
When Steve got the alert, he almost crushed his phone. Tony had warned him about this. They had both agreed that implanting trackers in the kids was a good idea. They had been prepared in the event that someone ever tried to take the kids. But Steve never thought it would happen. Despite their adamant protests, he was almost positive that Fury had at least one agent stationed at the kids’ schools. Nat was the first one to notice the change in Steve’s breathing. 

“Steve? What happened?”

It took him a second to even formulate the sentence, “It’s Peter and Peggy. They’ve been kidnapped.” 

Five minutes later and every asset SHIELD could spare, and then some, was mobilized in the hunt for the Stark-Rogers children. 

Clint and Nat were handling all the interrogations themselves. It slowed down the process just slightly, but no one was going to say anything. Those two had murder in their eyes, reserved for the people that had taken their niece and nephew. 

Fury himself had taken point on the case, commanding all SHIELD personnel not working on necessary projects to report to their superiors for new orders. If anyone had any problems with the new order, no one said anything. 

Tony and Steve had frantically started searching when JARVIS first sent out the alert, but were talked back to SHIELD headquarters by Pepper, of all people. Since she was Peggy’s godmother, JARVIS had sent her the alert too, along with Rhodey and Sam. 

The couple was now pacing a hole in the floor of Steve’s office, driving their friends crazy, as none of them were allowed to go out. They were too close to the case, although, no one knew how Clint and Natasha had managed to sneak past that rule. Tony was chugging coffee like there was no tomorrow and Steve just wouldn’t stop moving. Eventually, Sam and Rhodey forced them to sit down. For the first time in hours, the two really and truly looked at each other. They both looked about ready to collapse, the others were hoping they would tire themselves out and fall asleep, but neither were prepared to do so.

Tony and Steve stared at each other, unblinkingly, for a while before they both broke down. Sam was urging everyone out of the room, sensing that the couple needed space. After everyone was gone, they curled into each other as best they could on the couch. Tony spoke first, 

“What happened? Where did we go wrong Steve? What could I have done better? They can’t be gone Steve, they just can’t !” 

Steve didn’t have an answer, he just curled himself tighter around Tony and they both cried. Cried because they couldn’t be there for their children, cried because they both felt that they weren’t enough, cried because they didn’t even know if Peggy and Peter were alive.   
.  
The others checked in on them periodically, making sure they were eating and drinking, but for the most part, they were doing their best to find the littles that had captured everybody’s hearts. 

It was almost a day before the ransom video came. Everyone had been expecting it, you don’t kidnap the children of Captain America and Iron Man without making some sort of demand. Nobody was quite ready for what they were about to see, Tony and Steve least of all. Pepper and Rhodey had to leave the room and Natasha looked like she had just seen a ghost. 

The captors hadn’t said anything. They showed Peggy and Peter, locked in the same cell. Peggy looked relatively unscathed, but Peter? Peter looked like he had been through hell and back. He was shirtless, and there were scars up and down his chest and back. Clearly, they had been much worse earlier, but due to his heightened healing abilities, they were just beginning to scar over. Surprisingly, Peter didn’t look frightened, in fact, he looked almost defiant. Like he was daring his captors to try anything more. He knew exactly who his family was, and knew they would find him, he just had to hold on. The video had one more thing to say, there was a sign at the end of the video. It demanded that Tony turn over the armor by the next day. If it was dropped off in the locker at Grand Central Station tomorrow by noon, Peggy would be returned by 6 pm. The sign made no mention of Peter or the captors wanting money or anything from Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapters will be more from the kids' points of view. So they might take a little longer than a day.


	6. Taken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief mentions of torture, physical and emotional. Please read with caution.

One minute, Peter was copying down words for the spelling test on Friday, and the next, the fire alarm was going off. This wasn’t particularly unusual, they had fire drills once a month, it was just startling. The teacher gathered them all in a line by the door and led them out to the parking lot. Suddenly, Peter was being pulled out of line. He thought maybe it was Harry, he was in a different class than Peter, but they were best friends. Peter looked up, it definitely wasn’t Harry. The man was tall, almost as tall as papa, and he was wearing all black. Peter was about to shout for help when he felt the stab in his neck. It felt like the flu shot he got last year, and that was the last thing he remembered.   
.  
.  
Peggy remembered her principal coming into the room with someone she didn’t recognize. She was called out of class, and went with the principal. Papa always told her to listen to her teachers. They went out of the classroom, and then the new man knocked out the principal. He picked Peggy off and started running. Peggy was going to scream for help, but then the needle plunged into her neck. After that, she thought she remembered being thrown into a van. But she definitely remembered the darkness.   
.  
.  
Peter woke up first, probably due to his heightened metabolism. At first, he couldn’t remember what had happened. Then he saw the cell walls and Peggy laying on the floor beside him. And then he remembered everything, the fire drill, and the big man in black, and the shot in his neck that had made him sleep. He figured that something similar had happened to Peggy. He tried to wake her up. 

“Peggy? Peggy! Peggy! You gotta wake up! Peggy!” 

Peggy mumbled something in her sleep but otherwise, was dead to the world. Peter knew he wasn’t going to get any help from her. He just hoped papa and daddy realized they were gone. He didn’t know how to get out by himself. The first thing he tried was the vent in the ceiling, but couldn’t manage to pry it off and keep himself up. That escape route was out. He thought Peggy might be able to fit through the bars, but what good would that do? They didn’t know where they were and Peggy wouldn’t know how to call anyone if she could find a phone. He was still busy thinking when the man in black came back. Peter pulled Peggy and himself against the wall at the back of the cell, in an effort to protect them. The man just laughed.

“Peter Parker Stark-Rogers. Did you really think you could get out of here? I must admit though, seeing your spider skills was most impressive. We may just have to test those later.” He paused, Peter wasn’t sure why, “For now though, we shall wait for your sister to wake up. I do hope she doesn’t have anymore of those pesky nightmares.” 

Peter was frozen to the wall. How did this man know his full name? He had been stupid to climb the walls, he could have used his powers to help them escape if the captors hadn’t known about them. Also, how did this man know about Peggy’s nightmares? Papa and daddy didn’t think he knew, he let them keep believing that. But there was no way anyone outside of their family knew about the nightmares. Peter spoke up, 

“W-who are you? What do you want?”

The man just laughed, “Who I am is not important young spider. As for what I want, I want to see the downfall of the Avengers. I want to take what your parents hold most near and dear to their hearts ripped away. God knows they’ve done it to enough people.” 

It wasn’t like Peter hadn’t heard other comments like this before. Papa and daddy had told him that he might. The first time he did, he got sent to the principal’s office. After that, Uncle Bruce had taught him some breathing exercises to control the violent urges. 

Peter just looked up at the man, “My family is coming. You won’t get away with this! They’ll be here really soon!” 

The man laughed, “Will they young Mr. Stark-Rogers? That remains to be seen. Your time is up.” 

Peter didn’t know what he was talking about, but the cell door was being opened by the man’s sidekick. If Peggy had been awake, he would have at least attempted an escape, but he couldn’t carry Peggy and get them both out the cell. 

The man stepped into the cell, coming towards them. Peter pulled them both into the far corner, knowing it would only delay the inevitable. The man reached down towards them. 

“Don’t touch her you big meanie!” Peter’s voice was going shrill. 

“And who said I wanted her?” The man leered at him before roughly grabbing his arm. Peter did his best to hold onto Peggy, but there wasn’t much he could do other than scream. 

“Peggy! PEGGY! YOU NEED TO WAKE UP! PEGGY PLEASE WAKE UP!” 

Peggy just slept on. 

Peter was pulled out of the cell, out of the room, and down a hallway.   
.  
.  
Peter woke up, not being able to move. He could feel everything, and when he opened his eyes, he could see he was now chained up. For what he didn’t know. He opened his mouth to speak, and let out a scream. He couldn’t see behind him, where the pain was coming from, but it felt like his back was being lit on fire. He knew it wasn’t because there wasn’t a burning smell. He hoped he would pass out at some point, it might make the pain go away.  
.  
.  
Peggy woke up sobbing, which wasn’t anything new. The new part was, papa wasn’t there. Neither was daddy for that matter. She looked around through her tears, and found that she was surrounded by bars. It didn’t look like anywhere at home. 

“Papa? Daddy?”  
The door opened. At first she thought maybe papa had found her, but the next minute that hope was dashed. The man that walked through the door looked nothing like her papa or her daddy. This man was tall, dressed all in black, and had an unkind look on his face. Peggy scrambled back into the corner, wishing for anyone to just get her out of here. 

The man started laughing, “Your parents aren’t coming for you little girl. They’ve left you, just like your first parents. None of them wanted you, nobody will ever want you. Nobody is coming for you.” 

Peggy whimpered, but managed to talk, “You’re a liar.” 

The man laughed some more, “Oh but that’s where you’re wrong my dear, if they really cared about you, wouldn’t they already be here? Would you be here at all if they really cared?”

Peggy didn’t have an answer, she just curled further into the corner, hoping that the man wouldn’t come in. He didn’t come in, just looked at her for a moment longer and swept out of the room. She tried her hardest not to cry, she really did, but she wanted daddy and papa. She missed home, and Peter, and the rest of her family.


	7. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peggy's torture begins. Nothing graphic, just a lot of verbal abuse. Read with caution.   
> There's a line that could be read as a reference to rape, if that's a trigger for you, please skip after Steve and Tony's bit until after the next break in the text.   
> .  
> Also a little bit on Peggy's past, this will eventually lead into the more complete story.

Tony bolted straight upright. He knew he needed sleep, but the nightmares were almost worse than being awake. When he was awake, he knew what was real and what wasn’t. He knew that for right now, his children were alive. His subconscious wasn’t so sure. It kept showing him varying versions of the same vision, his children, laying on the floor of that goddamn cell, dead. He kept dreaming about the different ways those sick bastards could torture them. He just kept dreaming all of the worst case scenarios. 

Next to him, Steve woke up, much in the same state Tony was in. He was sweating and breathing hard, taking a minute to separate the dreams from reality. Tony didn’t know what Steve had been dreaming about, they hadn’t been sharing nightmares for the past few days, they were just too much. 

Steve’s voice sounded slurred with sleep, “T’ny?”

Tony moved closer, “Yeah Steve, I’m here. They’re still not here.” 

Steve wrapped his arms securely around Tony, while Tony just burrowed further into Steve’s warmth. 

“I just keep expecting to wake up and see Peggy next to the bed, begging to be cuddled. Or to hear Peter climbing the walls, even after we told him to stay in bed.” Steve took a deep breath, “How much longer can we go on without them Tony? How much?”

Tony’s response was slightly mummbled, “We’ll find them, Steve. We’ll find them if it’s the last thing I do.” 

Steve shuddered at his words, “Please don’t say that, because I know you mean it. I can’t lose you too, not after everyone else.” 

Tears were springing up in Tony’s eyes, “I know sweetheart, I know. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. If that’s what it took to bring them home, I’d do it in a heartbeat.” 

Steve was openly crying at this point, “So would I, baby, so would I.” 

The couple managed to get a few more hours of sleep, wrapped in each other’s arms, finding comfort where they could, worried sick about their children.   
.  
.  
Peggy woke up. This time though, it looked like she was home. She could see the butterflies on her closet door, and yesterday’s clothes in the hamper. She could smell whatever it was that daddy drank all the time. (Personally, Peggy thought it smelled pretty bad, but both daddy and papa drank it, so it couldn’t have been all bad.) The instant someone stepped through the door, she knew it wasn’t home. Because the person who walked through the door didn’t live there. 

The person who walked through the door, was mommy. 

Mommy, who had left her. Mommy, who had let Jeff do bad things. Mommy, who she loved. Mommy, who went out and didn’t come back. Mommy, who let her cry   
through nightmares on her own. Mommy. 

Peggy tried to speak, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and tried again, but still, nothing. 

Then mommy started talking.

“Did you really think they’d keep you? Did you really think anyone cared? They’ll never want you Layla, never. Nobody ever wants you. Why do you think I left you there? Why else would I go out and not come back? I was hoping you wouldn’t be there when I did, that’s why. Because you’re a mistake Layla, a terrible, horrible mistake that nobody and no one will ever want.” 

Peggy wanted to scream, to tell her to go away. To tell her that she was lying. To tell her that her name was Peggy, not Layla. But she couldn’t speak. She tried to move. And found that she couldn’t do that either. She wanted to shove her out of the room. To kick, or hit, or punch. Anything to make her stop, to make her go away. But she couldn’t move. She could feel the tears flowing down her face as mommy continued to talk. 

“I never wanted you. You ruined my life, you stupid, little bitch! I had everything before you came and ruined it all! You’re a problem that nobody wants! You really thought that they’d keep you? That they’d love you? How could they? You’re a mess! You can’t even sleep on your own! You have to have someone there or you wake up screaming.” 

She stopped just long enough to slap Peggy. Then she went straight back to talking. But Peggy wasn’t listening anymore, she just tried to stop crying.   
.  
.

Peter woke up, back in the cell. He woke up with scars all over. He could feel the ones on his back, and see the ones on his chest. They weren’t hurting very much anymore, but he could tell they had not very long ago. Peter groaned a little as he sat up, looking at his surroundings. 

He was pretty sure it was the same cell as before, but he couldn’t be sure. Peggy was curled in the corner, still sleeping. Or maybe sleeping again? Peter didn’t know. He didn’t see any new escape routes, but maybe he could get the vent cover off when Peggy woke up. He looked back over at Peggy. 

Peggy was crying, not like she usually did. Usually, when Peggy cried, everyone knew about it, she was loud. Now though, she just had tears running down her face. Peter scrambled over to her, knowing there had to be a way to wake her up. 

“Peggy! Peggy! Can you hear me? Peggy? Can you wake up? Peggy, please!” 

Peggy’s eyes shot open, looking straight at Peter. She stared for a few seconds, before shooting forward into Peter, sobbing. 

Peter was taller than the average kindergartener, and Peggy was slightly small for a three year old. They fit together perfectly though. 

She latched onto Peter with all her might, as if he would disappear if she didn’t. Peter, for his part, didn’t quite know what to do. Papa or daddy usually dealt with nightmares. He didn’t know how to handle them. He awkwardly wrapped Peggy in a hug, just trying to stop the crying. 

Eventually, Peggy was able to talk again. At first though, Peter couldn’t understand what she was saying. After a few repetitions, he heard the majority of it. 

“Not good enough. They don’t love me. Nobody wants me. Problem.” 

He wasn’t sure that was exactly it, but it was close. He wrapped his arms tighter around Peggy. 

“Peggy, papa and daddy love us very much. They’re gonna come with Uncle Clint and Aunt Tasha and Uncle Thor and Uncle Bruce and Aunt Sharon and Aunt Maria and everyone else real soon. They promised they’d never leave us alone.”


	8. Exchange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized that they were supposed to trade the suit for Peggy and that I didn't talk about that. I honestly didn't mean to do that, I just had a thought about how to finish Peggy's story and went with it. I'm going to cover that in this chapter.

Fury stormed into the conference room, there was a look on his face that none of them had ever seen before. It certainly didn’t bode good things. The group had been frantically trying to think of a way to fool the plan to get Peggy back. Honestly, Tony was ready to sacrifice anything to get his daughter back. Clearly though, they couldn’t just let anyone have the Iron Man suits. There had to be a better solution. 

Fury started talking, “Listen here, our main priority right now is getting that child back here safe. Once we have one, the other won’t be as hard to get. But there has to be a way around giving the suits away. Any ideas, kids?”

Tony spoke up right away, “Well, if I’m leaving the suit in a locker, someone has to come pick it up right? Just send in some agents in disguise and catch the sucker red handed.” 

“Wrong answer, Stark,” Fury looked like he had already been over this, “you know as well as I do, that if those motherfuckers have magic, they won’t have to physically be there to pick the damn thing up. Any other brilliant ideas?”

Natasha waited a minute before responding, “Could we rig a hologram? Based on what I’ve seen of these goons, they’ll go in person to pick the damn thing up.” 

Fury slammed his hand on the table, “We ARE operating under the assumption that these fuckers have access to magic of some kind or another. Until such time as it is clear that they don’t, we need a better solution. Understand?”

There were murmurs of assent from around the room, the team too dispirited to do much else. The room was silent for a while before Bruce spoke up, 

“Tony, couldn’t you make a phony version of the suit? Make it look and feel the same, but not give it any of the weapons systems? Don’t give them anything important, but give them what they want at the same time? If JARVIS is running the suit, we’d be able to track where they take it and maybe find Peter.” 

Steve looked hopeful for the first time since the kids had been taken, Tony jumped up and kissed Bruce. Steve wasn’t even phased at this point, but Bruce was rightfully startled. 

Rhodey looked up, “Could you do that in time, Tones? I know you’re a genius man, but can you build a phony Iron Man suit in,” he looked at his watch, “three hours?”

Tony looked up from his phone, “Oh yeah, no problem. JARVIS and I’ll strip down one of the older marks, update the outside, and modify JARVIS’s programming. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.” 

Steve reached over for Tony’s hand and squeezed, “Let’s bring her home.”  
.

.  
The team did their best to keep Steve calm while Tony hurried to get the suit done in time. It wasn’t going well. With the kids gone, Tony had been Steve’s rock, and vice versa. Now, Tony had work to keep him busy, but all Steve could do was wait. Fury had benched him from all SHIELD missions until the kids were safe and sound at  
home. The waiting was driving him crazy, and the team was going nuts just watching him. 

Sam finally had enough, “Man, you gotta relax. We’re all worried, but driving yourself up a wall isn’t helping anyone here. Just take a break.” 

They were down in the gym, and Steve was on his third punching bag, or was it his fourth? Either way, when they all came home, Tony went straight to the workshop, and Steve headed for the gym. He hadn’t said a word to anyone, just wrapping his hands and going to town on the punching bags. Tony was going to have to make more after all of this was over, because there weren’t very many left. 

Steve turned around, “Relax? Sam, how can I? Peter and Peggy are gone, I don’t know when they’re gonna be back. Tony’s holed up in the shop in the hopes that we can bring Peggy home today. But God knows when we’re gonna get to bring Peter home, those bastards don’t look like they’re gonna give him up anytime soon. How the hell am I supposed to relax when I feel so fucking helpless to help my family?”

Sam took a deep breath, “I don’t know man, but I just know that if we have to fight our way out of this one? You’re gonna need to be at the top of your game, all of us are. If we’re not, we might as well just surrender. 

“And think about what Tony would want you to be doing right now. Would he want you beating your hands to a bloody pulp on the punching bag, or would he want you to find a way to help?”

Slowly, Steve started unwrapping his hands. He picked the broken bags up and piled them in the corner, maybe they could be repaired. Steve picked up his gym bag and headed for the elevators, only glancing over his shoulder when he didn’t see Sam. 

“You coming or what?”

Sam jogged over to the elevators, “Hell yeah I’m comin’, those munchkins mean the world to me.”  
.

.  
Meanwhile, down in the shop, Tony was working like a madman to get the suit done in time. He ended up taking apart the Mark VIII. It had enough of the new bells and whistles to please the bad guys for a bit, and give them enough time to find Peter and get him the fuck out of there. He already had JARVIS running scans. The video had said that Peggy would be returned by 6 pm, making Tony think that these people had be approximately 6 hours in any given directions. JARVIS was now scanning for Peggy and Peter, along with any suspicious activity.

He heard the doors whoosh open in the background, but paid them no mind, he had precious little time to get this suit down to the bare bones. Suddenly, the music cut out.

“JARVIS! What’s with this? It wasn’t even that loud!”

Tony was walking over to the screen to get it working again when Rhodey started talking, 

“Tony?” 

Tony turned around and Rhodey almost gasped. His best friend looked awful. He had seen Tony after days long binges in the workshop before, but this wasn’t even similar to that. There was crazed, driven look in those tired eyes that Rhodey hoped to never see again. The man looked like he had lost ten pounds overnight, the clothes he was wearing hanging off of his usually muscular frame. His voice didn’t sound the same either,

“What d’you want, Rhodey? Can’t you see I’m busy?” His tone was almost snappish. 

Rhodey held his hands up in surrender, “Just wanted to see if you needed any help man, I know you’re on the clock with this one.” 

Tony deflated just a bit, “I probably could, but I wouldn’t know what to have you do. It’s not that I don’t think you couldn’t figure it out, but I think it’ll go faster if I just do it myself.” 

He made a mental note to bring some food down later, “Yeah sure, Tones. Whatever you need man. Let me know if you do need help though, you’re not alone in this.” 

Tony was already getting back to work, “Yeah Rhodey. Definitely.”  
.

.  
An hour later, Tony emerged out of the shop with the modified suit in tow. 

“It’s not exactly what I had in mind, but it’ll do for right now.”

Fury sent Sam and Rhodey to drop it off, they already had agents waiting in case these idiots picked it up themselves. So Tony, Steve, and the rest of team, were left to wait. 

Despite all the whining that Tony usually did about not using the communal floor, they all congregated in the penthouse living room. It was still littered with all of the toys and drawings Peter and Peggy had left. 

By the time Sam and Rhodey got back, Tony had been pacing for what seemed like hours, while Steve sat on the couch with his head in his hands. Eventually, he stood up. 

“I’m gonna go make some food. Any requests?”

Nobody wanted anything in particular, so Steve just started cooking. And kept going. He moved onto baking at one point. He continued making food, until there was no more food to make. Nobody called him out on it though, they all knew Steve liked taking care of people, and this was the best he could do under the circumstances.  
.

.  
It was around 5:30 when JARVIS alerted the team. 

“Sir, it appears that Peggy is being dropped off on the front steps.” 

Everyone ran for the elevators.


	9. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying my best to put more and more of Peter into this story, but it's not going very well. I know he's supposed to be super smart, but I'm finding it hard to balance between that and him being five. If anyone has any ideas, drop a comment. Thanks for reading!  
> .  
> .  
> This chapter's also a little bit choppier than the last ones, but I think it works for the most part. If any of you know of a beta that would be willing to help me, let me know in the comments.

Peter was still trying to comfort his sister when they started pumping the sleeping gas through the vent. It was invisible and scentless for the most part, someone would have had to have been looking for it to see it.

“Papa and daddy are gonna be here real soon, Peggy. You’ll see! And Aunt Tasha and Uncle Sam! Oh, and Uncle Rhodey’ll be with ‘em too! Everyone will be here soon and then we’ll get to go home!” 

His words were starting to slur and Peter was starting to feel sleepy. He just tried to keep talking, 

“Uncle Clint will probably bring food. Doesn’t that sound good, Peggy? Uncle Clint always has the best food, not like the fruits and veggies like papa. But don’t tell him I said that.” 

Peter mumbled out his last few words before he couldn’t fight sleep anymore. Peggy had nodded off a few minutes prior, but Peter hadn’t noticed. Soon though, they were both out cold.  
.

.  
A few rooms over, their captors had cameras on Grand Central Station. Specifically on locker 12B. They saw Sam and Rhodey putting the suit inside. 

From the shadows, the henchmen heard a mutter, “Perfect. Send the girl.”  
.

.  
Happy had been in the lobby, when Peggy showed up. He tackled the guy dropping her off, not wanting him to get away. The rest of the family showed up seconds later.  
Steve and Tony ran towards Peggy, arms wide open. She was waking up, disoriented at first, but soon realized that daddy and papa had their arms around her. Peggy started crying immediately. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the team was busy dragging her captor inside. Once they had him in an interrogation room, they all left, leaving only Natasha in the room. There had been no questions as to who was going to do the interrogation, everyone already knew.  
.

.  
Peggy was still crying when Tony and Steve had brought her upstairs. She was trying to talk, but they couldn’t understand her underneath all of the crying. They just took turns holding her, until she latched onto Steve and wouldn’t let go. Tony was surprised for a minute, but quickly recovered, grabbing her blanket off the back of the couch. 

Talking usually helped calmed Peggy down, and Tony heard Steve speaking as he turned to get the blanket, 

“Hey, sweetheart. Papa’s here. Daddy’s here. You’re safe now, you’re home. Nobody’s gonna hurt you now baby. Peggy, can you talk to papa? I’m right here, sweetheart, daddy’s right beside you. Can you talk to us, Peggy?”

The family eventually moved towards the bedroom, hoping that maybe they could get Peggy to sleep if they were laying down. Tony thought trying to get her to talk could wait until tomorrow. The rest of the team was downstairs interrogating Peggy’s captor, trying to find Peter. Right now though, Peggy needed both of her parents, and they weren’t really willing to leave her side.  
.

.  
The man just grinned up at her, “What else can I say, I’m being interrogated by the great Black Widow herself. I’m honored.” 

Natasha brought the whip down on his back again, hoping to make this bastard feel what had been done to Peter, “You will answer my questions, bitch. You, are going to,” she whipped him again, “tell us where to find Peter,” the resounding crack of the whip was heard again, “and then I will make you and all of your friends, die in the most painful ways I know how.” She crouched to look him in the eyes, “Do you understand what you have done to yourself?”

She sees him moving his tongue before she can reach out and stop him. In the next minutes, the man is convulsing violently on the floor, foaming at the mouth. His last words?

“Hail HYDRA.”  
.

.  
Peter jolted awake, yet again. Although, this time, not in pain. He was more aware this time, though he highly suspected he had been drugged again. He was looking around the cell, hoping for something different. And there was definitely different this time. Peggy was gone. 

He scrambled to his feet, trying to figure out where she went. There wasn’t another cell in the room, so he doubted that she had been moved. Oh, but what if they were hurting Peggy this time, and not him? The man had promised they weren’t going to touch Peggy, but Peter didn’t think that the bad man would keep promises very well. Where else could she be? Daddy and papa clearly weren’t here yet, so she hadn’t been rescued, but that still didn’t answer his question. Finally, he just started talking. 

“I don’t know what you’ve done with my sister, but if you hurt her, you’re going to be sorry! My daddy is Iron Man, and he’ll find you! My whole family will find you, and then they’ll take me home, and we’ll find Peggy too! You’ll see! My family isn’t going to be happy, and you wouldn’t like Uncle Bruce when he’s angry, I’ve seen the TV. He turns into the Hulk! You better let me go while you can! They’re gonna be here any minute now! There’s no way they won’t find me soon! And Papa won’t be”

That was as far as Peter got before the door opened. He opened his mouth to speak before he saw the dart flying towards him. He wasn’t fast enough to jump aside before it stuck in his leg. He felt himself collapsing, and then darkness was all he knew.  
.

.  
Tony and Steve hadn’t wanted to let Peggy be alone, so they were taking turns. Tony went to talk with the team first, as Peggy was still wrapped around Steve like a squid. 

The elevator door opened and Tony stepped out, “So what’s going on? What did we find out from that bastard?”

He was met with silence for a moment before Rhodey stepped forward, “Tones, the man was with HYDRA. We thought Nat had him on the ropes, and then he popped a cyanide pill before anyone could do anything. I’m sorry.” 

Tony looked around the room once, before stepping straight back into the elevator, needing to see Steve immediately.


	10. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might need Google Translate for parts of this.

The men were watching on the monitor, just waiting for Peter to wake up. They were planning on exchanging Peggy for the suit and Peter for Steve’s blood, but finding out that Peter was already enhanced was so much better. They wouldn’t have to try to extract the serum now. As long as they had Peter, they could do what they pleased. HYDRA was confident that neither SHIELD nor the Avengers had any idea where they were holding Peter, therefore keeping their positions safe for as long as necessary. 

It had only been about an hour when Peter started to stir again. The men were intrigued, in testing, that serum had taken a normal man hours to get through. Peter was still a child, so comparing his test results would be difficult, but not impossible. They would just have to keep watching and waiting for the right time.   
.

.  
Peter was waking up again, he could tell. He could feel the concrete underneath him. There was a cot in the corner, but he had been standing when they shot the dart at him, leaving him to wake up on the floor. He lifted his head and looked around. Seemed to be the same cell, still no Peggy. As he was starting to speak, the door opened again. The man in black stepped inside this time. Peter just glared at him. 

“If you’re wondering where your sister has gone, she’s at home. We traded her for Iron Man. You, on the other hand, young master Peter, have much more to give up than your parents ever could.” 

Peter spat on the floor and sat up, “Daddy would never give you his suit. And even if you did send Peggy home, my papa will find you. He won’t let any of you get away with this.” 

The man just laughed, “Oh but we do have the suit young one. A complete Iron Man suit in exchange for your sister, that was the deal. For you though, I do not think there is going to be an exchange. We will simply give you back when we are ready.”

The door opened again, revealing several more men. They were dragging with them what they thought was the Iron Man suit. 

When Peter saw what they had, he just laughed. The men all looked at him, puzzled,but didn’t bother asking him any questions. Now Peter knew how they had gotten the suit so easy. That suit was one of the oldest daddy had. And, it didn’t have everything they thought it did. Peter could see that several panels had been taken out and replaced with fakes. He just kept laughing. Finally, the man in black had had enough. 

“What, exactly, is so funny Master Peter? Do enlighten us.”

Peter stopped laughing, knowing he couldn’t very well tell them that they had been given a phony. More than likely though, JARVIS was still in the suit. If JARVIS was there, Peter had a chance of getting home. He only hoped that the man was telling the truth, that Peggy was home. Refusing to talk was probably a bad idea, but it wasn’t like he had another choice. He couldn’t tell them that the suit was a fake, that would give away any chance he had of getting to JARVIS. Surely daddy hadn’t sent the suit without some form of JARVIS in it, right? 

He started talking, “Oh nothing. I was just laughing because none of you can fit in the suit. It’s designed for daddy and daddy only. People have to be smaller than him to fit inside. And the only one here that’s smaller than daddy is me, but I’m too little. Guess you just can’t use it!” 

He hoped that had been convincing enough. Peter knew he just had to stall some more. Either to let papa and daddy find him, or to find a way out himself.  
.

.  
Peggy woke up. Peggy woke up and she was warm and in a bed. Peggy woke up and didn’t know if she was actually home, or if this was another nightmare. It looked like home, but so had the dreams. It smelt like home, but so had the dreams. But daddy and papa had never been in the dreams and they were both here. She was in daddy and papa’s bed, snuggled between them. But how was she supposed to know if she was really home or not? 

She felt papa moving beside her.

“Peggy?”

It sounded like papa.

Daddy was moving now. 

“Baby? Can you hear us?”

That sounded like daddy. She’d play along for now.

“Papa?”  
.

.  
“Желание.”

There was a jolt.

“Ржавый.”

A groan this time.

“Печь.”

A creak, followed by another jolting sound, 

“Рассвет.” 

Pounding and more creaking. 

“Семнадцать.”

No sounds at all. 

“Доброкачественный.”

Screams or maybe just shouting.

“Девятка.” 

Definitely screams this time.

“возвращение на родину.”

More creaking and groaning sounds. 

“Один.” 

Shouting again.

“грузовой автомобиль.” 

Silence. And then, 

“добрый утренний солдат.”

A pause came before the response, 

“готовы соблюдать.”   
.

.  
They had left the suit in the room. Peter knew there had to be cameras, he couldn’t just start talking to the suit in the hopes that JARVIS would respond, he’d never get out that way. But there had to be a way to get a message to daddy through the suit, there just had to be. Daddy wouldn’t have given the bad men his suit if there wasn’t a way to get Peter home too. Peter just had to be smart enough to figure it out. 

Peter was still thinking it through when the door opened again. This time, Peter moved before the dart could hit him. There was a pause before someone new came in. Peter didn’t know this person. It wasn’t the usual man in black, but a man with long hair. His arm was metal, how cool was that? 

“Who are you?”

The man didn’t answer, he simply stood there watching Peter. Peter thought that maybe he was supposed to be watching his spider powers. But he wasn’t gonna do that anymore. 

“If you’re waiting for me to climb the walls, you’re gonna be waiting a while, because I don’t plan on doing that anytime soon.” 

The man stared at Peter for a while longer before turning around and leaving the room, just as quietly as before.


	11. Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's more descriptions of torture in this chapter. Slightly more graphic than the last ones but not awful. However, as always, please read with caution. Thanks for reading!

Peggy still wasn’t sure if this was real or not. Papa and daddy weren’t telling her that she wasn’t good enough or that she messed everything up, so she thought that she might actually be home. But after all the dreams that she had had of home, she just wasn’t sure anymore. Mommy hadn’t shown up yet, but Peter wasn’t here. If Peter wasn’t here, how could this be home? 

“Peggy, breakfast is ready!” 

She got up from the couch and went to the kitchen. 

.

.

Peter wasn’t even sure he was alive anymore. The whipping just kept going on and on and on. There was definitely blood pooling around his feet now. He just kept thinking of home and how quickly papa and daddy could find him. If he could just get to the suit. That’s how he ended up here, trying to get to the suit. He knew that the men had left the suit there just so that he would try something, but he couldn’t help it. Peter just wanted to go home. He wanted to hear Uncle Clint crawling around the vents and he wanted Aunt Tasha to let him in her ballet studio and he wanted papa to give him piggy back rides and he wanted daddy to let him sit in the shop. Peter wanted to see Peggy again, make sure she was okay, he knew the bad men did something to her dreams. 

Suddenly the pain got so much worse. The whipping had been one thing, but he thought the pain he was feeling now might be a knife. He had tried to be quiet so far, but now he just couldn’t help it, 

“Papa! Daddy! Papa!” 

.

.

Peggy was taking a nap, giving Steve and Tony a minute to talk. They had pretty much been glued to Peggy since she came home two days ago. The HYDRA goon that had popped the cyanide had been the only lead they had on Peter. When he bit the bullet, the team was back at square one. JARVIS was in the suit, but Peter had to be able to access it before the homing beacon would activate. Tony had been working every spare moment on tracking down their son and the bastards that were keeping him. Now, the couple was on the couch, curled into each other so tightly, it was difficult to tell where Steve started and Tony ended. 

“Where could he be Steve?” Tony was exhausted but couldn’t sleep, “We’ve tried everything and they haven’t tried to work a trade like they did with Peggy. What do we do now?”

Steve had suggested to Fury every idea he had come up with, “We hope that Peter can get to suit.” He let out a sigh, having said that so many times already, “Until then, we keep trying. Anything and everything.” 

He looked over as Tony sat straight up, “We host a press conference. Advertise it before it happens. If we’re both there, there’s no way that HYDRA won’t try something. Knock them out before they can pop the cyanide, take it from them, and then interrogate them.” 

“Tony are you sure?” Steve was also sitting up now, “There’s a lot of contingencies that could happen. I’m willing to try, but are you sure?”

Tony was already texting Pepper, “I’m not sure about anything anymore Steve. I just know we need Peter home,” he looked up, “and I’m willing to try anything to accomplish that.” 

Steve was moving to tell the team as Tony was talking with Pepper. 

“Yeah Pep, I know it’s risky. Yes, Steve has already pointed that out. No, I’m not concerned about anything else, I just want to get Peter home. I know that sounds reckless Pep, but if you had a kid and HYDRA had taken them, wouldn’t you be willing to risk everything?”

There was pause.

“Let’s bring him home Pepper. I don’t know how much longer we can go on without him.” 

.

.

They were back in the room with the monitors again. But this time, the man with the metal arm was with them. 

“Солдат?” ( _ Soldier?) _

The man looked up, “готовы соблюдать.” ( _ Ready to comply.) _

“ваша задача - обучить мальчика.” ( _ Your mission is to train the boy.)  _

“в чем?” ( _ In what?) _

“тренируйте его так же, как и вы. Без жалости.” ( _ Train him the same way you were trained. Without mercy.)  _

“Если он не сотрудничает?” ( _ If he does not cooperate?) _

“он или он сломает его.”  _ (He will, or you will break him.) _

_. _

_. _

Peter was waking up. He must have passed out at some point. When he woke up, the scars were starting to form and they hurt a lot. Peter hissed as he started to sit up. Moving at all made his entire upper body hurt, but he knew staying still would hurt more in the long run. He had learned that over the past few days.

Finally, he was able to open his eyes. The man with the metal arm was there again. And again he didn’t say anything. 

“Do you ever talk? ‘Cause I’m getting kinda tired of talking to big scary guy in a trenchcoat and talking to myself is just no fun.”

The man just continued to stare. 

Peter just rolled his eyes, “Okay fine, big, strong, and silent, be that way. Like I said before, I ain’t climbing the walls again.” 

Big, strong, and silent stared for a few more minutes, before getting up and leaving the room again. 

“Good riddance! I have better company with just myself!”

Then Peter noticed, the suit was still in the room. Were they just teasing him now? When he tried to talk to the suit last time, he was taken and beaten again. And clearly it hadn’t worked, because if it had, papa and daddy would be here already. Peter missed home. He started humming the lullaby that papa sung sometimes when the suit beeped. And then Peter heard the best sound he had heard in days, 

“Good morning, young master Stark. Your parents have been alerted and are enroute to your current location as I speak.” 

JARVIS was officially Peter’s favorite. 


	12. Rescue

 

When the homing beacon went off, the team was loaded in the QuinJet in under two minutes. There were looks of grim determination on all of their faces. Peter had somehow managed to activate the beacon, but at what cost? They knew HYDRA wasn’t opposed to torturing Peter. And if Peter had somehow made contact with JARVIS, there would be hell to pay. Nobody talked, but they were all thinking the same thing, would he be alive?

Peggy had sobbed when both Steve and Tony left. They almost broke down at the sounds of her crying, but they had to bring Peter home. Pepper and Sharon both agreed to watch her, urging the team to hurry. Everyone was already at the tower when the beacon was activated, finding a sitter wasn’t hard. Leaving Peggy with anyone though? It didn’t matter that Sharon and Pepper were the closest things to family either of them had, they didn’t want to leave Peggy, still wary of another kidnapping attempt.

Clint was the first to speak the entire ride there, “ETA 5 minutes. Get ready.”

Everyone triple checked their weapons, made sure they had coms, and prepared themselves for whatever situation they were about to walk into.

.

.

Peggy was still crying after Steve and Tony left. She hadn’t said anything before they left, other than her plaintive cries of papa and daddy. Sharon figured she would calm down quickly. Pepper was inclined to agree with her. But when Peggy was still screaming and sobbing ten minutes after the team had left, they weren’t so sure. They just did their best to comfort the girl. Five minutes later, the proverbial alarm bells went off when Peggy started screaming words.

“Papa! Don’t leave! I’ll be good, I promise! Please don’t leave me, Papa! Please Papa! I’ll be good! Daddy, please! I’m a good girl! Please, daddy! Don’t leave me!”

.

.

“How the hell did they get from here to New York in six hours? The Quin’s top of the line and we just barely got here in seven. What kind of technology do these bastards have now?” Tony was griping, mostly to mask the fear that was coursing through him.

Natasha had her lips set, “Guess we’ll find out soon, huh?”

At that, Thor broke open the doors. They had been surprised to find no guards outside, but figured there’d be plenty to do once they got inside. Steve stepped in front with the shield as the bullets started to fly.

Nobody had to do anything. The HUD locked onto the life signatures and all of their would be assailants were dead in seconds.

Quickly, but with caution, the team advanced into the bunker.

.

.

Deep in the bunker, the man in black was watching the Avengers. He summoned one of his men.

“отправить в актив.” ( _Send in the asset._ )

.

.

Tony had locked onto Peter. He and Steve were rapidly making their way towards him when _he_ popped up. One second, they were wading through dozens of HYDRA goons and the next second there was guy with a metal arm. Which admittedly, was pretty cool, but Tony wanted to get to his son. Even tag teaming him, Steve and he weren’t getting anywhere. He sent Peter’s location to Rhodey, briefing him on the situation. Steve added on,

“Rhodes, you find Peter and get him to Bruce. Don’t wait on us, just get him out. Are we clear?”

“Loud and clear, Cap. We’ll get ‘im home.”

And then they were back at it, trying to take this bastard out. They worked beautifully as a team. Or they did, up until this douchebag’s mask fell off. And then Steve looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Bucky?”

The guy threw Tony back against the wall and paused before responding.

“Who the hell is Bucky?”

Tony shot all five tranq darts into his neck.

.

.

Natasha and Clint were making their way deeper and deeper into the bunker, picking off HYDRA agents as they went. Originally, Thor had been with them, but then Rhodey had been called away and Sam had been left without a partner. It was fairly easy going, she wasn’t going to lie, 

HYDRA was seriously slacking in their training. Suddenly, they weren’t there anymore.

Tasha turned in a circle, “Clint?”

Her surroundings had disappeared completely. The bunker wasn’t there anymore, instead, there was a staircase. The very same staircase of her childhood. In a place she never thought she’d see again. It shouldn’t even be possible, the place had been torched. And yet, here it was. Tasha stumbled down the stairs, making her way to where she knew the studio was. This feeling was different, she knew she wasn’t physically there, but it was as if she was seeing through her past self. Her memories ran through everything, from her beginning, all the way up to the Ceremony. Then everything went dark.

.

.

“Tasha? Tasha?! Can you hear me? We need to move!”

She came to and it felt like coming out of a fog. Clearly, the person trying to wake her up was Clint, but Clint hadn’t been in the Red Room. Why was he here now? Where was here, for that matter. The fog started to clear.

“Tasha! We need to move now! Can you hear me?”

She scrambled to her feet, “Yeah,” she shook her head to clear it, “let’s move. Where are we going?”

Clint was already moving forward, “Toward the center of the bunker. There’s something, or someone, there that needs to be brought in. We’re supposed to wait for back up though.”

They moved as one, calling for the promised back up as they went.

.

.

Rhodey was surprised that there wasn’t more resistance on the way. There were a few goons he had to take out, but not nearly as many as anticipated. They were probably being called to other sectors of the bunker. He reached the room where Peter was supposed to be and busted 

down the door. Stepping inside, he almost wanted to step right back out. There were traces of Peter everywhere in this room and not in a good way.

The good news?

Peter was there and he was alive. He sat up when he saw the War Machine armor walking into the room.

“Uncle Rhodey?” His voice sounded so hopeful that Rhodey wanted to cry.

Instead, he popped the face mask up, “Yeah buddy, it’s me. Can you step back so I can get the door open?”

Peter darted into the corner while Rhodey worked on opening the cell. He saw the modified suit in the corner and wondered if Tony wanted to leave it here or not.

“Hey Tones, you on coms?”

In the meantime, the door popped open and almost immediately, Rhodey had an armful of Peter.

“Hey squirt, yeah I’m here. Let’s get you out of here now, huh? Bruce is waiting in the Jet. You’ll be home real soon, kay?”

Tony came back with a response, “Yeah, just finishing up our delay. What’s up, Platypus?”

Rhodey wanted to roll his eyes, “Well for one thing, I have Peter. We’re getting out right now. But the suit was in the holding cell. If you want it, you’re gonna have to get it out.”

Peter was squirming to get as close to his uncle as possible when Tony responded, “Nah, it’s pretty much ruined anyways. Just leave it and we’ll blow it sky high with the rest of this hell hole.”

Steve sighed but didn’t say anything while Rhodey called back with an affirmative.

.

.

Rhodey had just dropped Peter off with Bruce, planning to head back in to help with the final offensive, but Steve called out through the coms.

“Rhodes, if you’re still out, stay out. The more people with Peter, the better. We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Hear ya loud and clear, Cap. Staying with Peter.” Rhodey was slightly reluctant, but Peter didn’t look like he wanted to be left by anyone, anytime soon anyhow.


	13. Reunited

 This is how I imagine Peggy! I wanted to post this with Chapter 1, but didn't know how to. Thanks for your patience! 

. 

.

.

Steve still looked visibly shaken after Bucky collapsed. Tony wanted to coddle him, but unfortunately, the coddling would have to wait.

“Those should keep him out long enough to take out the rest of these goons. We’ll pick him up on the way back. Bruce has more sedatives on the jet.” Steve was still just staring, “Steve, babe, we gotta move.You with me?”

Steve shook him to clear it, “Y-yeah. Right with you, Tony. Let’s go.”

.

.

They met up with Clint and Tasha a few minutes later. Thor and Sam were on their way. Once they got there, Tasha started talking

“The big bosses are in that vault. Dead or alive. I don’t know much else.”

Tony leveled a missile at the door, “Then what are we waiting for,”

“Let’s finish these bastards.” Steve finished his sentence.

.

.

Sam thought Nat looked awful. He had seen her with serious sleep deprivation, but this was something different entirely. He knew that her past was something she’d rather forget, but he also couldn’t help but wonder if just being here was messing with her psyche. However, that being said, he also knew Tasha well enough not to ask. If one wanted to live, one did not ask Natasha Romanov about her feelings or her past.

.

.

All in all, Clint was rather disappointed by what they found. There were a few low level goons, but the top dogs they wanted had either gotten out or bit the bullet. Nat and Steve knocked out the ones left over before they could bite the bullet as well.

He had wanted to take the one who had spooked Nat with whatever the fuck she did, but couldn’t find her. She had been whisked away almost immediately by a blur. Clint assumed it was another enhanced, but hadn’t gotten a shot or a good look.

.

.

“JARVIS, I want it all. Anything they haven’t deep sixed.” Tony got right to work on the computers.

“As always, Sir. Should I search for anything in particular?”

Steve was busy setting up detonators while Tony worked, “Nope, we’ll sort it later. Just get everything. We’re gonna blow this place skyhigh in a few minutes.”

Sam walked back in, “Everyone’s ready to go. Peter’s asking for you guys though, wrap it up quick huh?”

“Already done, Sam,” Steve stood up and dusted his hands off, “just waiting on this husband of mine now.”

Tony just rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry, I was under the impression you wanted to wipe HYDRA off the face of the earth. Or was that someone else?”

Sam just laughed, “I’m gonna get outta here before it gets weird. Just hurry it up, okay?”

“Ya know, I thought _I_ was the leader of this team?” Steve was trying not to laugh.

Sam just flipped him off as he walked back down the hallway.

Walking over, Steve wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist, “You ready to go home yet? Cause I don’t know about you, but I want to see our son.”

Tony pulled the drive out, “Already way ahead of you. Let’s get outta here.”

.

.

Clint took off with the explosions. The bunker wouldn’t serve HYDRA, or anyone else for that matter, anymore. Peter had gotten a kick out of seeing Thor use the lightning to blow it up. The kid needed to laugh.

As soon as Tony was out of the suit, Peter came barreling at him.

“Daddy!”

Tony scooped his son into his arms, “Hey squirt!” He was also trying very hard not to cry, “Sorry it took us so long. We just didn’t know how to find you.”

Peter was crying when Steve came over, “Peter?”

He peeked out from Tony’s shoulder. Upon seeing his papa, Peter put his arms out. Steve was all too willing to oblige. Tony wrapped his arms around both Peter and Steve, making a sandwich out of Peter. Until Peter lifted his head so quickly that he almost broke Tony’s nose.

“Where’s Peggy?” The boy had an almost manic look in his eyes.

Steve just hugged him tighter, “Peggy’s at home Peter. She’s waiting for us with Aunt Pepper and Aunt Sharon.”

The couple shared a look over Peter’s head, what had happened that would make Peter so panicked? Fortunately, upon hearing that Peggy was safe and sound at home, he cuddled right back into the family sandwich.

“Wanted to make sure, when he,” at this, Peter pointed at Bucky, still unconscious from the tranq darts, “showed up, Peggy wasn’t there. I thought that they had taken her.”

Both parents kissed the top of his head, but Steve was the first to talk, “Nope, Peggy’s home. She’s been asking for you.”

Peter let out a positively huge yawn, “Tha’s good, papa. C’n I take a n’p now?”

Tony’s chest rumbled with a laugh, “Yeah baby, you sleep just as long as you want.”

The words were slurred, but definitely there, “N’t a b’by.”

.

.

Steve was still holding Peter. One, because he didn’t ever want to let their son out of his sight ever again and two, because Peter wouldn’t let go. Even in his sleep, he had an iron tight grip. Not that Steve minded, when Peter latched onto Tony like this, Tony usually ended up with bruises from how hard Peter hugged. Steve could hold Peter for hours and come out completely unscathed. Right now though, it was a slight hindrance. Tony and he were trying to talk with Bruce without waking Peter up, it was proving to be quite the task. Everytime they started talking above a whisper, Peter would stir or mumble, prompting the trio to lower their voices even more.

“Is there any lasting damage, Bruce? I just need to know.”

Bruce ran a hand through his hair and down his face, “Not physically. I can’t speak for what this has done to his mind. I’m hoping that with enough rest, relaxation, and maybe some therapy he’ll be fine. I just don’t know though Tony. I just don’t know.”

Steve hugged Peter just slightly tighter before asking his own question, “And Bucky? Bruce, how is he even alive?”

This prompted a fairly loud sigh from the scientist, “I don’t know much, Steve. I’m hoping we’ll have more information when we go through the files Tony managed to get. The theory I have right now though, is that Bucky was given some version of the serum when HYDRA had him the first time. It probably enabled him to survive the fall, where he was re-recovered by HYDRA. I don’t have much else to go off of.”

Steve was still gazing at Bucky when Tony wrapped an arm around him, “We’ll figure everything out, Steve. It’ll just take time.”

For the rest of the ride, the family stayed like that, curled into each other in an attempt to find comfort. It was very easy in the back of the Quinjet, it was designed to hold the maximum number of people, not accomodate cuddling families, but somehow three-fourths of the Stark-Rogers clan made it work.

.

.

The team was hesitant to wake the trio when they arrived back at the tower, knowing that Tony and Steve hadn’t slept hardly at all while Peter had been gone. No one knew just how bad off Peter was, they knew he was gonna have scars for a while. Eventually, his healing abilities would make them disappear, but for the time being, Peter had nasty scars that had even Natasha cringing at the sight of them.

Clint was finally the one to break down and do it, knowing that Peggy would want to be with her family. The tot had been asking for Peter since she got home and no one had known just what to say to her.

“Hey Steve? Tony? Guys? We’re home. You maybe wanna take the snuggle party inside to include your daughter?”

At the mention of Peggy, Peter was wide awake, “Papa! You gotta wake up! We gotta go see Peggy! Now, Papa! Now!”

Tony was quicker to wake than Steve was, “Okay buddy, we’re going. Just give papa a minute to wake up, he’s an old man you know.” A wink was directed in Steve’s direction as Tony said this.

Steve just glared, “We’re going, Petey. Let’s go, Peggy’s been asking for you.”

As they were walking down the ramp, they expected to see Peggy, waiting for them with open arms. Instead, they saw a frantic looking Pepper, a look no one had ever seen on the normally put together woman. Immediately, Steve and Tony were jogging rapidly towards her, sensing that something was wrong.

As they got closer, Tony noticed the tears gathering in Pepper’s eyes and immediately began thinking of the worst case scenario, “Pep! What’s wrong? Where’s Peggy?”

“She’s inside. I think you guys need to get in there now. She’s hardly stopped crying since you left, I’ve never seen her separation anxiety get this bad. I think there might be something else going on.”

Peter was trying to wiggle out of Steve’s arms, “I wanna see Peggy!”

Steve was already moving.

.

.

Sharon was still desperately trying to calm Peggy down. She and Pepper had tried everything. You name it, they had tried it over the course of the last 14 hours. Peggy had taken a short nap right after the team had called to say they were on their way home, but other than that, Peggy had cried almost non-stop. Usually, Peggy just cried, there weren’t words or anything to go along with the crying. Now though? The crying was constantly interspersed with Peggy’s heartbreaking pleas.

“Please papa! Don’t go! I’ll be good, I promise! Please don’t leave me! Daddy! Don’t go! Don’t leave me! Please don’t go!”

It went on for so long that sometimes it didn’t even seem like Peggy knew where she was. She just kept calling for Steve and Tony. Early on, she had called for mommy. This had baffled both Pepper and Sharon, knowing that she didn’t have a mommy here. Maybe that was who had abandoned her in the first place? Neither of them knew, they were just trying their best to calm Peggy down. She hadn’t been put down the whole time the team was gone. One of the two of them holding her at all times.

Sharon heard the doors opening and whirled around. When she saw Tony and Steve, she almost let out a sob of relief. She loved Peggy and Peter to death and she was a trained SHIELD agent, but dealing with a sobbing toddler for 14 hours was starting to wear on her nerves.

Peggy had also heard the doors. She slowed her sobbing long enough to see Tony and Steve walking through the door with Peter. Instantly, she was practically throwing herself at them. Sharon was having a hard time not dropping her. Tony reached her first, immediately enveloping his daughter in his arms.

“Hey sweetheart. It’s okay. Daddy’s here, so is papa. And guess who we brought home? We found Peter, baby. Papa has him, Peter’s home.”

Peggy was happy with Tony, but saw Steve and immediately reached out for him. It probably helped that Steve was also carrying Peter, who was on the verge of crying again. Steve sat down on the couch with both of the kids snuggled on top of him. He motioned for Tony to go talk to Pepper and Sharon, he could handle them both for a bit.

Both women were waiting by the door, ready to go, but needing to talk to one of the parents before they left.

Tony was whispering, not wanting to disturb his family, “What happened?”

Sharon rubbed her face, “We’re really not sure. You guys left and she started sobbing. A few minutes later, she was calling for you guys, begging you not to leave, promising she’d be good. I really don’t know what was going on Tony, I’ve never seen her like that before.”

“Maybe,” Pepper took a deep breath, “maybe she’s ready to talk? Or maybe something happened to her while HYDRA had her. She mentioned a mommy a few times. It scared the shit out of us, Tony. Sometimes, it didn’t seem like she knew where she was. When she’d mention mommy, she’d beg for her to stop.” Pepper paused and pinched her lips, “I think you should ask JARVIS to show you the tapes of when you were gone. I can’t even begin to explain it.”

Tony looked about ready to keel over and faint. Peggy had seemed off the last few days, but he and Steve had put it down to be, ya know, kidnapped by HYDRA. They never imagined that she would start talking about her past.

He quietly thanked both Pepper and Sharon, showing them to the door. He turned around, ready to talk to Steve. What he saw however, melted his heart. Both of the kids were cuddled on top of Steve like a puppy pile and he had an arm around each of them. All three of them were also asleep. Tony grabbed his phone to take a picture.


	14. Aftermath

Steve woke up before the kids, which wasn’t surprising. He usually didn’t sleep for very long, the serum and his years of military service making him a morning person. He just wasn’t expecting to wake up with his arms full of Peter and Peggy. Steve almost dropped Peggy before he realized what he was holding. He quickly recovered and looked to his left. Tony was curled around Peter in his sleep, still holding the tablet he had inevitably been working on before passing out. Steve just smiled, Tony hadn’t been getting anywhere near the amount of sleep he should have. With the kids missing, neither of them had slept very well, but Tony never slept well to begin with.

Peggy was the next to wake up. Steve felt her stirring in her sleep. At first, he was smiling, seeing her wake up. But Peggy’s movement were suddenly jerky and she started whimpering. Nightmares weren’t uncommon, but they hadn’t been happening very often as of late. Steve tried to calm her down before it got too out of hand, not wanting Peter or Tony to wake up before they were ready. Soon though, that became impossible.

.

.

Peggy woke fully with a start. At first, she didn’t know where she was. Maybe back in the cell? But then she smelled papa and realized that whatever she was laying on was warm and soft. She looked up and saw papa. He was smiling at her, trying to cuddle her closer with Peter in the other arm. She just cried harder.

.

.

When Peggy started crying, Tony was wide awake. He and Steve had become accustomed to hearing Peggy cry over the last few months. It still wasn’t a pleasant sound to wake up to, but Peter used to wake them up by dropping on their bed from the ceiling, so waking up to Peggy crying wasn’t the worst way to wake up.

Tony realized he was still curled around Peter. Steve was awake, trying to calm Peggy down, but having little luck, not being able to properly hug her with Peter in the other arm. Tony looked at Steve, trying to pry Peter off. After a few moments, Peter was finally lose enough that Tony could take Peter, letting Steve fully hug Peggy.

It was surprising that Peter hadn’t woken up when he heard Peggy crying. The boy was an oddly light sleeper. Bruce thought that it might have to do with his spider powers, but no one knew for sure. Tony just carried Peter to his room. After tucking him into bed, he returned to the living room, wanting to help Steve with Peggy.

He wasn’t prepared for what he was about to hear. Peggy had been talking more and more after starting school, but when they got her back from HYDRA, she had stopped talking almost completely. Now though? Peggy was letting out a constant, non-stop stream of words.

“Please papa! I’ll be good! Please don’t leave! Daddy, don’t leave! Please!”

Steve looked up at Tony, panic quickly taking over his features.  

.

.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury was trying to contact anyone currently residing in Avengers Tower. Much to his chagrin, JARVIS was blocking all calls that didn’t pertain to a world ending catastrophe.

“What do you mean, you can’t put the call through JARVIS? I know they’re all there, I saw the jet land _myself_ not four hours ago. Since then I’ve been trying to get a hold of any member of the team. That’s all I want to do, talk!”

JARVIS’s response was the same that it had been for the last three hours, “Sir has instructed me to not let calls through that do not detail a world ending catastrophe. You are welcome to leave a message, which I can relay at a later time.”

Fury just hung up, muttering under his breath the whole time, “Who the fuck do these motherfuckers think they are? I’m gonna kill Stark.”

.

.

Thankfully, Peter had stayed asleep through the whole ordeal. If he hadn’t, Steve didn’t know what would have happened. In all honesty, he and Tony probably would have started crying right along with Peggy. As it was, they were having a hard time calming her down. In the past few days, Peggy hadn’t wanted to be very far from either of them, which was understandable, normal even. The intense amount of crying and screaming and sobbing she was doing now though? It was getting concerning, especially when she started calling out to them, almost like they weren’t there.

Tony thought that maybe going to bed with Peggy might calm her down, Steve went with it. That was how they calmed her down from nightmares, putting her in between them and making a family sandwich. If that didn’t work, they didn’t know what to do.

There were clearly underlying issues that the kidnapping had brought out, but until Peggy calmed down, they wouldn’t be able to find out anything. They had been prepared to let the problems be until Peggy wanted to talk about them, which they knew might be never, but they were okay with that. Whatever made Peggy most comfortable was the best thing for everyone in their eyes. Now though? It was clear that there were things to be talked about.

Both of them were whispering to Peggy, desperately hoping that she would stop crying. They just didn’t know what to do.

.

.

Meanwhile, Bucky was awake. Bruce wasn’t sure exactly what was going on. Bucky was locked in a Hulk proof room, for safety reasons. According to Natasha, what Steve and Tony had experienced was the Winter Soldier. But the unknowns about the situation vastly outweighed what the team did know about Bucky. By all accounts, he shouldn’t have even been alive. The official story was that James Buchanan Barnes had been killed in action in the Alps. They now knew that that wasn’t true, but until Steve could be pulled away from his family, they weren’t quite sure what to do.

Sam and Natasha had both tried questioning him, after they had found that he wasn’t going to attack anyone. They had gotten no response. Sam had gone first and gotten blank stares. Natasha took a turn, thinking that maybe if they tried a different language he might respond differently. She had gotten a different kind of stare, but no verbal or physical response.

Bruce pressed the buzzer, signaling that Natasha should back off for now. She looked at the window reluctantly, but knew that they weren’t going to get much out of him anyhow. They were all hoping that seeing Steve when Bucky wasn’t the Winter Soldier would jog his memory enough to start talking. It was practically grasping at straws, but hope was hope, no matter what form it took.   


.

.

“What do we do now?” The girl was playing with her red light.

The boy was trying to catch his breath, “I don’t know. We both know we can’t run from Tony Stark for forever. He’ll find us sooner rather than later.”

The girl sighed but knew that he was right, “If he has HYDRA’s data, it won’t take him very long to find either of us.” She paused, “If you can’t knock ‘em, join ‘em.”


	15. Rebuilding

Tony and Steve were trying to have a conversation, knowing that when the kids finally woke up, they weren’t going to have any alone time for a while. Problem was, every time they started talking, Peggy would start to wake up, which was one thing they didn’t want. Because when Peggy woke up, Peter woke up and then nobody slept for a solid twelve hours.

“We can’t just leave this alone, Tony! It’s serious!” Steve was trying his hardest not to raise his voice.

Tony was trying to keep his sarcasm in check, it wasn’t working, “Well thanks for that update, Captain Obvious. I know we can’t just leave it.” His attitude turned serious after this, “But what can we do? Even before she got taken, Peggy didn’t talk a whole lot and _definitely_ never about before. Why should it be better or different now? If anything, it’ll probably be worse.”

Peggy was starting to wake up, Steve rubbed her back and she calmed down, “Tony, I just want to help her. How can we do that if we don’t know what we’re supposed to do?”

Without an answer, Tony just interlaced his fingers with Steve’s, dropping a gentle kiss on his lips.

.

.

Tony had extricated himself from the family puppy pile. He needed to check on Peter first and then get some work done. Whoever had taken his children needed to found and made to pay. He was thinking of programs he could run as he tip toed to Peter’s room. He peeked his head through the door, smiling at what he saw. Peter was starfished across his bed, sleeping so hard he was practically drooling. Tony quietly shut the door again and let Peter sleep, God knows the kid needed the rest.

He made his way down to the shop, immediately getting to work on the HYDRA files and facial recognition programs.

.

.

“Dr. Banner?”

Bruce jerked awake when he heard JARVIS. The exhausted scientist had fallen asleep at his desk, yet again.

“What’s up, JARVIS?”

“It appears Sir is in his workshop. Should I brief him on the current situation with Sergeant Barnes?”

Bruce was simultaneously running simulations on possible projects, “Yeah, why not. Maybe Tony has an idea that we missed.”

“As you wish, Dr. Banner.”  

.

.

JARVIS finally convinced Tony to leave the lab, claiming that Dr. Banner had some urgent news. Tony wasn’t inclined to believe him. That was often the excuse JARVIS used, when really the info could wait for later. But, considering what the family had just gone through, Tony didn’t think Bruce would call him down for anything less than an emergency. It was worth at least checking out.

He was slightly disappointed by what he found. He was hoping Bruce had the cure for diabetes or something. But no, it was just Bucky. Tony knew he shouldn’t be so bitter, Barnes was the only tie Steve had left of his past. After Peggy, the original one, had died last year, Steve had sunk into a depression that Tony almost hadn’t been able to drag him out of. The problem that Tony had with Barnes was that it was clear Steve had been in love with the guy once upon a time. Not that Tony thought Steve was going to leave him. Actually, scratch that, that was _exactly_ what Tony was afraid of.

Tony didn’t have much to offer Steve. Sure, he was rich, but Steve wasn’t interested in money. He knew what they had going was good, but just wasn’t’ entirely sure Steve wanted to be with him more than Barnes. So excuse him for being slightly apprehensive about welcoming the guy into his home with open arms. Especially considering the guy had tried to _kill_ them a matter of hours ago.

Bruce was waving his hand in front of Tony’s face, “Tony? Hello? Earth to Tony? Anybody home?”

Tony shook the thoughts out of his head, “Yeah Bruce, right here. Sorry, it’s been a long few days.”

The scientist was already back at the screens, “No, it’s fine. I just wanted to give you what little bit of an update we do have.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “We know there was some sort of brainwashing involved. I don’t know yet how deep it went, but I’m guessing it did more harm than good, keeping him trapped for over seventy years? We were hoping that knocking him out would snap him out of whatever trance they had him in, which it did, but now we have a new problem. He’s not responding to anyone. Sam tried, partially because Bucky needed medical care. But Bucky wouldn’t let him get anywhere close. So then Natasha tried, thinking maybe he was used to a different language. He looked more alert at that point, but she didn’t get any kind of reaction either.”

Tony was beginning to understand what Bruce was asking, “So you want Steve to come down to see if anything gets through, right?”

The relief flooding through Bruce was almost palpable, “I know it’s a lot to ask and I know you guys want to spend some quality time as a family after everything we’ve been through, but I really want to work on getting Bucky better as soon as possible. If Steve could spare just even a few minutes?”

Sometimes Tony rubbed his face so much, he thought it would come off, “Yeah, Bruce. No problem. I’ll let him know. It might be a bit. Peggy had just gotten to sleep when I left, so Steve probably isn’t going anywhere for a while. But I’ll tell him when he gets up.”

.

.

As it turned out, Peggy didn’t want to sleep for very long. At least this time, she didn’t wake up screaming and sobbing. Steve didn’t know if he could go through that again. Peggy also didn’t want to let go of Steve; which Steve was perfectly okay with. They went to go check on Peter, who was still asleep. Steve just smiled, there was no feeling better in the world than knowing your family was safe and together.

Tony was just coming up in the elevator when they reached the living room. He looked exhausted. Steve knew he had slept a little when they were a family puppy pile on the couch, but he didn’t how much sleep he had gotten while the kids were taken. His husband didn’t get nearly the amount of sleep he should on a good day, let alone during a stressful situation like this.

He walked towards Tony, “Hey, sweetheart. You feeling okay?”

When Tony looked up, Steve’s heart broke just a little bit more. His eyes were bloodshot and bleary, Steve hadn’t seen them this bad since before they got married. Tony practically collapsed into his embrace. Steve just adjusted Peggy so he could hug both of them.

“Let’s get you to bed, huh? I think sleep is in order.”

Tony perked his head up, “Sure, just leave Peggy with me if you can. Bruce wants you down in his lab. He has some questions about Bucky.”  

A sigh escaped from Steve. He knew he needed to go talk to Bruce, but right now? All he really wanted to wrap his family up and stay with them for as long as possible. He just guided Tony back towards the bedroom, “I’ll go talk to Bruce later, right now, I think we need some time.”


	16. Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna say, be prepared for more and more angst as this story goes on. Starting in this chapter. Sorry, but also not.

Originally, they thought that marching right up to the tower would be the best way to get this over and done with. But then the boy had a better idea.

“What if we go to SHIELD instead?”

The girl looked at him like he had lost his mind, “You want to do what?”

Rolling his eyes, he explained, “The likelihood that Stark shared anything with SHIELD is pretty slim, meaning that SHIELD probably doesn’t know who we are or where we came from. Yet. If we get there fast enough we can stay ahead of the curve.”

Mulling it over, the girl finally deigned him with a response, “Okay, but if shit hits the fan, you’re getting us out of there ASAP, understand?”

“Loud and clear.”

.

.

Peter woke up, expecting pain. He had gotten used to being woken to the lash of the whip against his back, that he didn’t register the softness of his bed or the gentleness of the light. Instead he started crying.

“Daddy! Papa!”

Tony practically busted the door down ten seconds later, “Peter? What’s wrong bud? I’m right here.”

Peter just darted into Tony’s arms, not prepared to let go for a good long while.

“F-forgot I was h-home, d-daddy. Thought t-that t-they were g-gon-gonna hurt m-me again. Daddy, it hurt! And, and it was so s-scary daddy! I-I just wanted t-to come h-home!”

Steve came in, Peggy finally sleeping in her own bed. Peter saw him and immediately started sobbing harder.

“Papa!”

Steve had both Tony and Peter wrapped in his arms in a heartbeat, “I’m right here buddy. Right here and I’m not going anywhere, neither is daddy.”

“Papa, it w-was so s-scary. I-I thought that t-they had taken P-peggy. A-and that y-you were n-never gonna f-find me!”

Tony and Steve exchanged looks of alarm over Peter’s head, why would Peter even think that? They both sat there, cuddling Peter, whispering reassurances as much for Peter’s benefit as their own.

Peggy wandered in soon after, tears trailing down her face. Steve opened his other arm and Peggy came running. Soon, the couple was whispering reassurances to both of the crying children arms.

The family had a lot of healing to do.

.

.

They started by all sleeping in Steve and Tony’s bed that night. It was clear the kids weren’t going to be able to sleep on their own anytime soon, and if their parents were being honest, they didn’t want to let either Peter or Peggy out of their sight.

Tony was trying to get back to sleep when he remembered Barnes. After that, there was no possibility of getting back to sleep. He again extricated himself from the family puppy pile. None of them so much as stirred.

He padded towards the elevators, “J, shop. Now.”

JARVIS wisely kept silent, for once in his life.

.

.

Bucky woke up. He knew his surroundings were unfamiliar but didn’t know how he was supposed to react. He knew that he was no longer in the Winter Soldier mindset, but he also didn’t know where he was. His memories were still fuzzy at best, nonexistent at worst. There must be a reason why he was here. It definitely wasn’t HYDRA, meaning he had either been captured or rescued. Either way, he was locked up. Again.

These people kept trying to get him to talk but he didn’t know any of them. How did he know who he could trust? If he told anyone anything, that information could be valuable. He just kept repeating his name, rank, and social. Over and over, just like in Zola’s lab, all those years ago.

.

.

Peggy was talking in her sleep. Except that it really wasn’t like talking, it was more like whimpering and pleading. Steve was concerned but knew from experience that he shouldn’t wake her up. Peter was still blissfully asleep, curled into Steve’s side. Thanks be for small miracles. What really concerned Steve though, was that Tony was nowhere to be found. He would have asked JARVIS if there was chance it wouldn’t wake the kids, but he decided not to risk it.

“Mommy! Please no! I be good! I promise! Please no more! Mommy!”

.

.

Tony was drowning himself in work. Peggy and Peter were still sleeping with him and Steve, but Tony ended up waking up before any of them, allowing him to escape to the shop. He knew it wasn’t fair to the kids to just run, it had only been a few weeks, but they were starting to notice how much more they had seen Steve recently.

Despite the fact that Steve _still_ hadn’t been to see Barnes yet, Tony couldn’t help but start distancing himself. Once Steve did see Barnes again, Tony would be no more than a speck. Sure, they were married, but Barnes had been first. Barnes had more history with Steve, more to offer to Steve. More than just money and Iron Man as team member. He just had more.

“Sir, as part of my protocols, I am obligated to remind you that you have now gone 72 hours without any substantial amount of sleep. Shall I alert Captain Rogers?”

Tony sighed, “No, I’ll go up. I should check in on the kids anyhow. Thanks, J.”

“As always, Sir.”

.

The elevators doors opened, and Peggy and Peter were literally sitting on top of him. Tony couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey squirts! You wanna let me off the floor?”

They both just sat and stared at him until Steve plucked Peggy off, prompting Peter to also scramble away.

“Peter, Peggy, I want you to go to the living room. Mickey Mouse is on. Stay there for now, okay?” Steve was looking directly at Tony as he said this.

There was a chorus of whines from both the children, but Tony gave them the look and off they went. He rubbed the back of his neck before looking up,

“I just came up to get some sleep, JARVIS wouldn’t let me stay in the shop anymore.”

He let out an undignified squeal as Steve scooped him up bridal style, still not saying a word.

“Steve, babe? As much as I appreciate this, can you explain why you’re not talking?”

By this point they were in the bedroom. Steve dropped Tony onto the bed before going to pace by the foot.

“Tony, I don’t know what’s been going on with you, but I don’t understand why you’ve been so distant recently. When the kids came home, we agreed we’d take some time. Some time to just be a family again. No work, no SHIELD, no Avenging unless it was absolutely necessary.” Steve started walking back towards the bed, “Sweetheart, I married you. That means we’re there for each other in thick times and in thin. I just want to be there for you. Can you please just talk to me?”

By this point, Steve was kneeling by the bed, giving Tony those god damn puppy dog eyes. And Tony tried to voice his concerns, he really wanted to, but the words just wouldn’t come out. He wanted to tell Steve what he was afraid of. He wanted to talk, but the words just wouldn’t come.

“I just want to sleep Steve. According to JARVIS, I’ve been awake for 72 hours and counting. I need some sleep and then everything will be right as rain. Right, J?”

JARVIS didn’t respond, the traitor.

Steve huffed out a sigh before turning to walk through the door, heading back out to the kids. He turned around just as Tony was getting comfortable.

“Peter was asking for you yesterday. And I didn’t know what to tell him.” Steve moved back towards the bed, “Normally, I would have just used my override code to get into the shop, but it wouldn’t work. I tried. I’ve tried I don’t know how many time in the last few weeks. But every time, JARVIS reminds me to remind you to update it.” He paused again to sigh, “Tony, I don’t know what’s going on, but I really wish you’d talk to me. The kids have been asking for daddy, and all I can give them is papa. We all miss you, Tony. Just…” Steve turned back to the door again, “I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk, okay?”

Tony pretended to be asleep while the love of his life walked out the door. He pretended the sobs he was holding in weren’t there. He pretended that this wasn’t killing him more slowly and painfully than the palladium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a PSA, notes give me life. And by life I mean inspiration. You know, that thing that makes me keep writing? yeah that. So if you have anything at all to say, it'd be much appreciated, thanks!


	17. Issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying my best not to drag this story out, but bear with me please. It'll get over when it's over.  
> .  
> .  
> Thanks for reading!

“Daddy?”

Tony woke up, realizing that he had fallen asleep on the workbench, again.

“Sir, it appears Miss Peggy is asking for entrance. Shall I let her in?”

Blearily, Tony stumbled to the coffee pot, “Yeah J, let her in.”

He heard the sounds of the doors whooshing open before he heard the pitter patter of Peggy’s feet.

“Daddy! I have a present for you!”

Tony caught Peggy in his arms just as she leaped for him, “Is that so? Where is it?”

Peggy was giggling like mad, Tony was blowing raspberries on her tummy, the surest way to make her laugh.

“It’s upstairs, daddy! I can’t carry it! It’s to big!” She descended into another fit of giggles.

Tony swallowed. It had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, distancing himself from Steve. He had mostly avoided his husband for the past month, still splitting the days with the kids. Steve was slowly getting back to work, whereas Tony had thrown himself into work as soon as Peter was home safely. After the first few weeks, Steve had stopped making an effort to make Tony talk. Tony knew this was a good thing. Steve had finally gone and talked to Barnes about a week after his first attempt to talk to Tony. The two were working on getting Barnes back to being Bucky.

His thoughts were interrupted by Peggy.

“Daddy? Are you gonna come see your present?”

Tony smiled, dropping another kiss on her cheek, “Yeah peanut, be up in a minute okay?”

Peggy squirmed out of his arms, “Okay daddy. You promise?”

He smiled, his daughter was adorable, “I promise, baby. Be up in a minute.”

Peggy scampered back off to the elevator.

As soon as the doors were closed Tony asked JARVIS, “J?”

“Sir?”

“Is Steve upstairs?”

“Captain Rogers is on one of the upper floors, but not in the general vicinity of Peggy’s present. Would you like him to be?”

Tony was walking towards the elevators, “No, J. God no. I don’t know what I’d even say to him at this point.”

JARVIS’s silence was response enough.

.

.

He made a mental note to tell JARVIS to make a note. Never leave his daughter alone with Natasha Romanov again. She’d tricked him! His own daughter, at three years old, had tricked him! Admittedly, he should have seen this coming, but still! His three year old was being turned into a spy right in front of his eyes!

“What the hell are you trying to do Tony?”

He tried to seem innocent, “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She leveled him with a stare, “Cut the bullshit. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Now spill.”

Tony sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get anything past the superspy, “Well, you know Barnes is back in the picture. And I’m also assuming you know that Steve swung both ways, even back in the 40s. Do I need to keep talking or are you getting the picture?”

Natasha just leveled him with another glare, which prompted Tony to keep talking.

“Okay, so I know we’re married and we have two kids, but what do I have to offer the guy? Sure, I have money, but you know as well as I do that Steve doesn’t care about money. He grew up during the Great Depression for God’s sake! What else do I have to offer? He has a damn long history with Barnes, something that I could never compete with! I’m just trying to avoid the inevitable heartbreak here!”

Natasha’s face softened considerably after hearing Tony’s confession, her voice was practically a whisper, “You really believe he’d do that to you?”

Tony just buried his head in his hands, “I don’t know Tasha! I’d like to think he wouldn’t, but in reality, why would he want me over Barnes? Give me one good reason why he’d want to be with me and not Barnes!”

Her face took on that hard expression again, “Stark, I’m going to tell you this once, and if you don’t believe me fine, then don’t. But you listen carefully. Steve Rogers is in love with _you_. He married _you_. He has two wonderful children, with _you_. If he wanted anyone else, he would have done it long before now. He’s been driving himself crazy taking care of those two wonderful kids and trying to figure out what he did wrong. He thinks that it’s his fault you’ve locked yourself down in the shop. He loves _you_ Tony, you get that, don’t you?”

At this, Natasha got up and left the room, leaving Tony with his thoughts.

Well sure, Steve married Tony. Sure, Steve had kids with Tony. Sure, Steve could have left a long time ago. But Steve also hadn’t known that Barnes was alive. Would he have married Tony had he known Barnes was alive? Did Barnes even swing that way? Tony didn’t know. The logical and grown up thing to do would be to go talk to Steve. Instead, Tony went back down to the shop. He had a new idea for Nat’s Widow’s Bites.

.

.

Steve had gone to see Bucky after Tony had come up from the shop. He had waited until Nat and Clint were finished training for the day, Tony was just too exhausted to take care of the kids.

At first, he had been apprehensive about going to see Bucky. He knew what he wanted Bucky to be, what he was expecting him to be. Steve was expecting the same smooth talking, charming Bucky he had known before. Realistically, Steve knew that was impossible. Thus, why he had resisted going to see Bucky. But he also knew, the longer he stayed away, the longer it might take Bucky to get better. Sam had said they were making some headway with getting him to talk and move, but they thought that seeing Steve might really jumpstart the process.

It turned out, Sam was right, as usual. When Bucky saw Steve, the tension that had been simmering for weeks almost instantly bled out of his frame. Hope flooded his eyes.

“Stevie?”

Steve’s eyes were most certainly _not_ watering, “Yeah Buck, it’s me.”

From then on out, Bucky improved rapidly. It turned out that HYDRA had managed to recreate some crude version of the Supersolider serum, meaning that physically, other than his arm, Bucky was fine. Mentally though? It was clear to the whole team that Bucky had been made to do unspeakable things as the Winter Soldier. Unsurprisingly, he bonded with Natasha quite easily.

Another unsurprising thing about Bucky, Peter and Peggy were absolutely entranced with him. When Sam had brought up the subject, Bucky had been the most hesitant one of them all, not wanting to risk hurting Steve’s kids. Eventually though, he did meet them and they all got along like three peas in a pod.

Peter had a thing for his arm. Of course he did, Tony Stark was his father, he would have an obsession with a metal arm. He had so many questions that neither Bucky nor Steve could even begin to understand. Peggy on the other hand, really liked Bucky’s hair. She especially liked the fact that he allowed her to decorate it with all of her sparkly little clips.

Tony smiled the first time he saw all of them together. He had come up to the penthouse to get something and seen the kids with Bucky and Steve in the living room. Watching all of them put a melancholy smile on his face. They were just fine without him.

.

.

Steve was desperately trying to get the kids to eat their vegetables. Spoiler, it wasn’t working. Tony had always been so much better at this, but lately? Steve could count on one hand the amount of times he’d seen his husband in the last week.

“Peggy, c’mon baby! Just eat the carrots! You liked them the other night!”

She simply pushed his hand away, “No papa! No carrot! Carrot yucky!”

He sighed, what was the point? The kids weren’t going to eat their veggies and there was nothing he could do about it. It wasn’t like he could withhold dessert when there wasn’t any. He had half a mind to call Tony up from the lab on the basis of it being an emergency, but gave up the idea rather quickly.

Steve had been wracking his brain for weeks, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. Usually when Tony went on his workshop binges, it was because he was upset at Steve. But this time? Steve had no _idea_ what he had done wrong. At first, he thought that maybe he was overprotective when the kids were first home, but then figured that Tony probably had the tower on lockdown. So it couldn’t have been that.

He’d talked to both Sam and Natasha about it too. Sam didn’t have a clue. Natasha claimed she had no idea what was going on, but Steve was almost positive that she knew more than she was telling. It wouldn’t surprise him, Natasha and Tony were something like siblings. They could either be thicker than thieves or they were at each other’s throats every waking moment.

Peter’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, “Papa? Papa? Are you okay?”

“Yeah buddy,” Steve shook his head slightly, “I’m fine. Why don’t you guys take your dishes to the kitchen? And then you can ask JARVIS for a movie?”

Peter’s eyes lit up with excitement, as did Peggy’s once they realized what Steve had said. They almost never got to pick movies. In fact, it was rare that Steve and Tony let them watch TV at all. Getting to choose what they wanted to watch was a special treat.

Once the kids were settled on the couch and dinner was cleaned up, Steve had JARVIS call Nat.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain Rogers?”

“Is Nat in her apartment?”

“No, sir, but Agent Romanov is on the premises. Shall I contact her for you?”

Steve let out a sigh, “Yeah, JARVIS. Thanks.”

JARVIS came back with a reply a few minutes later, “Agent Romanov wishes me to inform you that she will be up momentarily. Can I do anything else for you, Captain?”

“Tony’s still down in the shop, right?”

“I believe so, Captain. Shall I tell him he is needed here?”

“No, I’ll go down once Nat gets here. Thanks JARVIS.”

“As always, Captain.”

As soon as Nat came out of the elevator, the TV was the last thing on Peter and Peggy’s minds. They were infatuated enough with their Aunty Nat, but Aunty Nat had also brought Uncle Bucky.  They were all over Nat and Bucky, asking why they didn’t come over more often and if they could go play in the gym with them. They went on and on and on with the questions, Natasha laughing at them all the while. Steve managed to duck out while they were preoccupied with Nat, shooting her a grateful look as the elevator doors slid closed.

.

.

Tony was muttering to himself about facial recognition programs, finally having cracked all of the encryptions on the HYDRA files. JARVIS interrupted him.

“Sir, Captain Rogers is requesting access. Shall I let him in?”

That got his attention. After the first few weeks, Steve had given up trying to get him to talk, seeming to resign himself to the fact that Tony was going to lock himself in the workshop. In a way, Tony was glad. It would make the inevitable rejection that much easier. On the other hand, it only served to prove Tony’s point. Steve would fall in love with Barnes all over again and leave him in the dust.

“Sir?”

JARVIS was still waiting for a response.

“Yeah, J. Let him in.”

Tony’s heart almost broke at the sight of Steve when the doors opened. He had that lost puppy look on his face, like he wasn’t sure if he should be there or not. He was also wringing his hands, something he did when he was nervous. Tony hadn’t seen him do that around him since they first started talking about adoption. Something had to be seriously wrong.

“Steve, is everything okay?”

At that, Steve’s face took on a completely different expression, but he was still wringing his hands, “Okay? Really, Tony? That’s the question you go with? Is everything okay?”

Tony tried to stammer out an answer, but Steve beat him to it.

“No. You stay quiet. I have something to say and this time, you’re gonna listen. Understand?”

Tony nodded.

So Steve continued, “I don’t know what’s been going on with you lately, but sometimes I think I see more of everyone else than I do of my own husband. Does that seem right to you? Because it doesn’t to me. It used to be, that you were the last face I saw at the end of every day and the first one I saw in the morning. You wanna know the last time that happened, Tony? Do you even remember?”

He didn’t give Tony a chance to respond before answering, “I do, I can count back the days. The last time I fell asleep next to you and woke up the same way, was before the kids came home. Do you know how long ago that was Tony? It’s been six weeks. _Six weeks!_ Do you even know how much the kids have grown in the last six weeks? No! Because you haven’t hardly seen them!”

Steve had stopped pacing and was now looking out the windows, “I understand when you get busy, it’s happened before. But never in the seven years we’ve been married have you been ‘live in the shop for six weeks’ kind of busy.”

Tony watched as Steve approached DUM-E, his voice quieting considerably, “I can’t even count the times Peter and Peggy have asked me, ‘Where’s daddy?’. And I don’t want to. You know why? Because every time, every single _fucking_ time Tony, I have to tell them, ‘I don’t know.’ Which isn’t even the truth, I do know. I know you’ve barricaded yourself down here, but I also know I can’t get in without permission anymore.”

This time when Steve moved, he moved towards Tony, stopping when he had his hands on Tony’s shoulders, “Sweetheart, you know I love you. And I know you well enough by now to know that something has to be wrong for you to be doing this. But you need to help me understand. I can’t keep doing this, baby. You not being with me? With the kids? It’s killing me. I just need you to make me understand. Help me to understand. Please?”

Tony desperately wanted to tell Steve. He wanted to tell Steve everything, but just like before, the words just wouldn’t come. He had seen the way Steve and Barnes were getting along. If Tony kept himself out of the picture, the kids might even forget about him before the inevitable divorce.

“There’s nothing wrong,” the words burned coming out of Tony’s mouth, “I was just working on cracking all the encryptions on the HYDRA files. And you know me, once I get started on one thing, I find something else to do. So I worked on Nat’s Widow Bites and that led to working on Clint’s arrows. And then I got to thinking about Barnes’ arm and that led into putting together prosthetic designs. And then the encryptions were finally decrypted so then I started running worldwide facial rec programs but then those had to be updated. And I’ve just been really busy. I swear, as soon as those bastards are found I’ll be upstairs more.”

He really hoped that answer would be good enough, it was the best one he had. The only one that was even slightly truthful. When he looked up, Steve didn’t look convinced. He also didn’t say anything else. He walked towards the doors, taking one last look back at Tony, before heading towards the elevator bank.

If anyone asked, Tony was most certainly not crying after the doors closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments = life = inspiration = I keep writing. AKA comments are much appreciated.


	18. Answers

Steve stumbled out of the elevator. He had asked JARVIS to take him to his floor, the one he had moved out of when he and Tony became official. The one he hoped he’d never have to see again. But right now he had no other choice. He didn’t want the kids to see him like this! It was bad enough that they had a parent who was essentially MIA, they didn’t need to see the other one all broken up.

The tears just wouldn’t stop coming. He’d held them back for so long. For the first two weeks or so, he thought that maybe it was just Tony being Tony, not wanting to cope with feelings. Granted, that hadn’t happened since before Peter came along, but it had been a possibility. After the first two weeks? Steve knew there had to be something else going on. He wanted to be there for Tony, he really did, but he couldn’t when Tony wouldn’t let him.

He was still sifting through his thoughts, when the elevator doors opened. Natasha walked out, took one look at him, and had him in a hug in the next five seconds.

“Bucky’s getting the kids ready for bed. Don’t worry about them. Let’s worry about you, huh?”

Steve was still trying his damnedest not to cry, but it wasn’t working very well. After being alone with the kids for almost six weeks straight, he couldn’t take it anymore. Before HYDRA had happened, it had been him and Tony against the world. Now it felt like his better half had been ripped away and was never coming back.

“Does he blame me?”

Natasha looked up at him with a bewildered look on her face, “Excuse me?”

“I know you heard me, Nat. Does he blame me?”

Her face softened just slightly, “Blame you for what, Steve? What is there to blame you for?”

“Does he blame me for the kids getting taken? Is that why he won’t talk to me? I could take it if it was that, but I don’t even know why. I just know that we brought the kids home and then he barricaded himself in the shop.”

Natasha was about to speak when Bucky’s frantic voice came over the speakers, “Steve! You need to get up here, right now! I don’t mean in five minutes punk, I mean now!”

They took one look at each other before running for the elevator, JARVIS already had the doors open.

“JARVIS! Let Tony know that it’s an emergency! A real one!”

“Right away, Miss Romanov.”

.

.

Tony didn’t think he had ever run that fast in his life. When JARVIS had said there was an emergency in the penthouse, he didn’t even hesitate, he just ran, telling JARVIS to make the elevator go as fast as possible.

It turned out, the elevator went so fast he got there at the same time as Steve and Nat. All three of them were sprinting for the bedrooms.

“What’s going on?”

“We know as much as you do, Bucky called and we came running.”

All three of them skidded to a halt outside of Peggy’s door. The sight in front of them was tense and fear filled, but also heartbreaking on a new level.

Peggy was curled in the corner, not crying, not screaming, just whimpering. Bucky had Peter cradled in his arms, they were both almost to the door. Peter was clearly struggling to get out of Bucky’s arms, but wasn’t having any luck.

Steve immediately moved to take Peter, which calmed him down a little, but not much. The boy clearly wanted to be with his sister.

Both Steve and Tony moved to talk to Bucky. He was still explaining what had happened when Peggy started talking. What she started to say shocked everyone.

“Please! I know you love me! Please don’t leave me! Don’t hurt me anymore! Please! Mommy, make him stop! Please! Mommy, make him stop!”

Steve handed Peter back to Bucky, and Bucky and Natasha left immediately. With a synchronicity they hadn’t had in weeks, Tony and Steve moved towards Peggy. She was still whimpering, occasionally calling out for mommy to make it stop.

Tony got to her first and scooped her into his arms. She didn’t thrash but didn’t cuddle into him like she usually did. Steve came up behind him, wrapping his arms around both his husband and his daughter.

“Peggy, honey? Can you talk to daddy? What’s going on, honey? Can you talk to daddy?”

The couple waited for a handful of minutes. They hadn’t gotten a response yet and thought that maybe just tucking her in between them for a nap would be the best option. But then, Peggy started talking. Really talking, in full sentences, spitting them out like she had done it her whole life.

“Daddy! It was awful! Mommy was so mean, she hurt me, papa. Like how Peter got hurt before you saved him? Not as bad, but she hit me like that. All the time. And she told me I messed up her life and that she didn’t love me and she wished I’d never been born. Jeff was really mean too. I think he might have been my father, but I’m not sure. And he did all kinds of bad things to me, daddy. And I begged mommy to make him stop, but she didn’t do anything. She just let him hurt me and then she’d take his belt and hit me with it. Oh papa, it was awful! And nobody came to help me and then they just left me! It was scary and I was all alone and then the nice lady came and then I came to live with you. But before that, oh daddy, it was awful! Please tell me you’re not sending me back! I can’t do that, papa! I can’t go back!”

By this time, Peggy was crying again. Tony and Steve both looked about ready to murder someone, but their first priority was their daughter.

Steve was the first to speak, “Sweetheart, we love you, so much. You’re staying right here with us, okay? You’re not going anywhere baby. We love you too much. You’re our little girl and we’re a family. You and me and daddy and Peter. You’re ours, forever and always Peggy, okay?”

Peggy was still whimpering into Tony’s chest, but she moved her head in what seemed like a nod. They were gonna take what they could get.

“Peggy, can you look at daddy?” Tony was whispering into her hair, “Can you look at me, peanut?”

Half of her face peeked up at him, wanting to stay buried in his warmth.

Tony was gonna work with it, “There you are, sweetheart. We love you with all our hearts. We wouldn’t give you up for the world. We love you too much for that, beautiful.” He paused before continuing, “Do you know who you’re named after?”

Peggy head shake was an emphatic no.

He chuckled, “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the fight we had over your name, sweetheart. In the end though, we found the three strongest, most beautiful names we could think of. Your first name? You’re named after one of the most powerful women either of us ever knew. Margaret Carter. Her nickname was Peggy, just like you. You’ll learn more about her as you grow up.”

Steve took over from here, “Your first middle name? Sarah? That was my mom. Let me tell you, Peggy, my mom was a saint. And one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. She’d be proud that you have her name. I’ll tell you all about her as you grow up.”

He stopped talking so Tony could take over, “And the final woman you were named after? That’d be my mom, Maria. I don’t know how or why your grandma married your grandpa, but she did. And they had me. And your grandma Maria, was also a saint. Because she put up with both me and grandpa.”

Tony was starting to cry, so Steve started talking again, “We named you after these people because they were strong and beautiful and smart, Peggy. We named you after these women, because we love you. We love you so much there aren’t words, baby girl. Sweetpea? We love you to the moon and back and then some. You’re staying right here with us. And if anyone tries to take you? We’ll send Uncle Bruce after them, huh? Sound good?”

Peggy’s whisper was so quiet they barely heard it, “Promise?”

Both of them smiled down at their daughter, “Promise.”

At this, Peggy let out a yawn that rivaled Clint’s, “Love you, papa. Love you, daddy.”

.

.

Tony liked to think this was when he would open up to Steve, tell him his fears, confide in his husband, just like he used to. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. Peggy’s confession? It was another excuse to throw himself into work. Now looking for both their kidnappers and Peggy’s biological parents.

The kidnappers were going fairly well. HYDRA was so cocky it wasn’t even funny. They blatantly put faces, names, new identities, the whole works on their servers. And unfortunately for them, very little of their data had been deep sixed before Tony got to it. The team, along with SHIELD was bringing those bastards in one right after the other.

Peggy’s biological parents? Not so much luck. He didn’t have anything to go off of. There hadn’t been cameras on the fire station where Peggy had been left and other than the clothes on her back, Peggy had been left with nothing. But hell would freeze over before Tony would stop looking. Those pieces of shit had hurt his little girl and they were gonna pay, no matter what the cost.

One thing that hadn’t occurred to Tony however, was that, by being away from his little girl this much, he was also hurting her. He and Steve had told her that neither of them were leaving, but Tony left, as soon as Peggy fell asleep. He couldn’t bear to stand there and face Steve, lying to his face, all because he was scared. Scared that Steve would finally realize that Tony wasn’t good enough, that they didn’t belong together, that Steve could do so much better than Tony. Tony wasn’t going to just wait around to have his heart broken.

It had also never occurred to Tony, that Steve’s heart might be breaking too.


	19. Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm most likely going to be making another part of this series. There's other elements I want to add to this plot line, but if I include them in this fic, it's gonna be really long. I don't really want to make this fic that long. I'm thinking that this might have a few more chapters, maybe 4, and then it'll be done. Not sure though.  
> Thanks for reading and for your patience!

Tony woke up in the shop, again. There had been a time when if he fell asleep in the shop, he’d wake up in bed. But that had been before Barnes showed up. Before he decided Steve would be better off without him.

At first, he wasn’t sure why he had woken up. Everything looked the same and the Assemble alarm wasn’t going off, but then JARVIS spoke up.

“Sir?”

Tony was making his way towards coffee, “Yeah, J. Hit me.”

“It appears that progress has been made looking for Miss Margaret’s biological parents, Sir. Shall I bring up the new information?”

He was over to the screens so fast, it would have made Thor’s head spin, “Yeah, all of it, right here, right now. Thanks, JARVIS.”

“Always happy to be of service.”

.

.

Minutes later, Tony and Steve were peeling out of the garage. The idiots had been stupid enough to have their unwanted daughter in a hospital. A hospital which had DNA records. Records that could be traced back to their origins.

The sorry sons of bitches were about an hour out and the SHIELD vehicle joined them about half way there. Tony had called Natasha as soon as he knew anything. She had promised them back up and legal support. Only on the condition that Tony wouldn’t bring the suit. Grudgingly, he had agreed, but made Steve promise to bring the shield. That hadn’t taken much convincing.

Soon enough, they pulled up the last known address of Peggy’s parents. He sincerely hoped for their sakes that they weren’t there. The couple and their extended family were all angry. How anyone could do such unspeakable things to their innocent little Peggy was beyond any of them. If they hadn’t wanted her, why hadn’t they put her up for adoption in the first place?

Natasha knocked on the door, and a hungover looking man answered. She looked back the car for confirmation that this was the father. When Tony nodded back at her, she knocked him out. Two other SHIELD agents advanced into the house, quickly bringing out the bitch that had the nerve to call herself Peggy’s mother. They were both handcuffed and thrown into the SHIELD vehicle.

.

When they got back to SHIELD, Tony and Steve wanted to the interrogations themselves, but their way was barred by Fury himself.

“And just where do you think you two are going?”

Steve was in no mood for bullshit, “To interrogate those people. They hurt our daughter.”

Fury was clearly mocking them, “Bingo! That’s why you two aren’t allowed. You’re related. You both know the rules.

“In addition to that, we don’t typically deal with child abuse cases. The _only_ reason we’re doing this one is because it’s your daughter. If you push your luck, I’ll turn this over to the normal authorities, are we clear?”

Both looked about ready to argue, but somehow came to the conclusion that this was one battle they weren’t going to win.  

“I want full updates on every bit of information those bastards give up, you understand me Fury? Everything.” Tony was seething.

Fury just rolled his eye, “Loud and clear, Stark. You two lovebirds get back to your kids, huh? Let us do our jobs?”

At his lovebirds jab, both men blushed, knowing they hadn’t been lovebirds in god knows how long. Fury didn’t need to know that information though, so the two headed back to car, riding back to the tower in complete silence. Neither of them knew that both hearts in the car were breaking just a little bit more.

.

.

They exchanged a few words as Tony was parking the car.

“I’m gonna head to the gym for a bit, can you watch the kids until I’m done?” Steve wouldn’t meet Tony’s eyes.

Which was good, because Tony didn’t know if he could have met Steve’s, “Sure, no problem. Most of the stuff in the shop is done anyhow.”

And that was it. They got in separate elevators, went to separate floors, and only saw each other when Steve came up from the gym, not looking anymore relaxed than before. Tony on the other hand, had a smile on his face that JARVIS hadn’t seen in weeks. Probably because Tony hadn’t hardly seen his kids in weeks.

.

.

Steve was trying to get ready for bed when there was a knock on the door. At first, he thought that maybe it was one of the kids. He knew it couldn’t have been Tony. Tony had never knocked on their bedroom door in his life, why would he start now? When he opened it, Steve was sorry to say he was disappointed. It wasn’t one of the kids, it was Bucky.

Now don’t get it wrong, Steve was glad to have his best friend back, but he just really wasn’t who he wanted to see right now.

“Hey Stevie. You doin’ alright?” Bucky had that mother hen look on his face again.

For once in his life, Steve wasn’t going to fight it, “No Buck, I’m really not. But it’s a long story. If you don’t have hours to sit and listen, you might want to leave now.”

Bucky pulled him over to the sofa on the other side of the room, “Okay punk, spill. There’s never been anything we couldn’t tell each other and we both got all the time in the world. Spill.”

And spill Steve did. He told Bucky all about how he and Tony had first met, that meeting was a doozy. Then he went on to talk about their dating life and subsequently their wedding.

Bucky interrupted him, “I’m still sore I didn’t get to see you get married, Stevie. We always promised to be each other’s best man.” He said it all with a joking smile on his face.

Steve just punched him in the arm, his _right_ arm, even Steve wasn’t dumb enough to punch a metal arm, “Alright, alright. If we renew our vows, you can be my best man. You might have to fight Sam though, he did it the first time around.”

A scowl etched itself on Bucky’s face, but it was enough to make Steve laugh. He continued on with his story, starting again with how they first talked about adoption. That led to him talking about Peter, the joys they had had seeing him grow up and _all_ of the learning curves getting there. After Peter, came Peggy. And with Peggy came a whole basket of other stories, all leading up to the kids getting taken by HYDRA. This led to the whole mess they were in now. The mess where Steve might as well have been a single parent and Tony had locked himself in the shop for the last two months.

They laid there for a while after Steve finished. Steve was lounging with his feet in Bucky’s lap when Bucky spoke up.

“You’re an idiot, you know that right?”

That was startling, “I’m what now?”

Bucky sighed, “You’re so oblivious I don’t know how you’ve survived this long. It’s pretty obvious to me why Tony locked himself in the shop. You know him better than I do, you should have figured this out by now.”

The look on Steve’s face still said he didn’t have a clue what Bucky was talking about, “Buck, I don’t understand what you’re trying to get at. What am I not understanding?”

A loud sigh escaped from Bucky, “Well, from what I’ve heard, Tony’s had issues with affection and people leaving him before, right?”

Steve nodded, still not understanding where Bucky was going with this train of thought.

Bucky rolled his eyes, but continued, “Well, Tony locked himself in the shop after I showed up, right? Me, the only person still alive that you knew before the ice?”

Now Steve was so confused it wasn’t even funny, “Bucky, I don’t understand your point here. There is a point isn’t there?”

He was promptly smacked across the chest, “Yes, of course there’s a point punk. Just listen. I’m assuming Tony knows that you swung both ways even way back before the ice right?” After Steve had nodded his head again, Bucky continued, “Okay and then I show up. The only person you have from before the ice. And there might have been some things said before that led him to believe that we may or may not have been a thing?”

All of a sudden, all the lightbulbs went off in Steve’s brain, “Holy shit. He thinks I’m gonna leave him. He thinks I’m in love with you. Oh god, Bucky.” Steve got up and started pacing, “How do I fix this? How do I convince him?” He turned to look at Bucky on the couch, “How do I do this? I fucked everything up. How do I fix this?”

Bucky shrugged, “Hell if I know, he’s your husband, not mine. If he were mine though, I’d start by talking to him? Letting him know you understand his fears? That they’re unwarranted and completely untrue?”

Steve was already half way out the door on the way to elevators.

 


	20. Reconnecting

Steve didn’t even wait to ask JARVIS for entrance, he just started banging on the shop doors, begging Tony to let him in.

How could he have been so stupid? They had gone through things like this when they first got together. Tony didn’t think he was good enough for Steve, he thought Steve would find someone better, and any number of other things. Eventually, they had gotten over it, around the time they brought Peter home. But now? Bucky coming back must have been Tony’s worst nightmare come true. Someone who was going to take Steve away.

His thoughts were interrupted by Tony opening the doors himself, a bewildered look on his face. It didn’t stay there long. Steve had Tony wrapped in his arms, kissing the life out of him, in the next two seconds.

When they finally came up for air, Steve was crying.

“I understand. I understand everything. Sweetheart, why didn’t you just talk to me?”

Unfortunately, Tony didn’t understand, “Steve, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Tears were still streaming down Steve’s face, “I’m not leaving, Tony. Not now, not ever. Til death do us part, remember?”

Suddenly, there were tears forming in Tony’s eyes too, “But, I thought that you… a-and Barnes?”

Steve was now laughing through the tears, ‘God, baby, no! Bucky and I were ever only friends! Yeah, he’s attractive, but I wouldn’t leave you for the world.” He rested his forehead against Tony’s, “Why didn’t you just talk to me, sweetheart?”

Tony’s tears were flowing freely now, “I-I just, I thought that you would want him. He’s so much better than me and the kids were getting along with him and what do I have to offer that he doesn’t?”

Steve tugged Tony down until they were both sitting on the floor of the shop, curled into each other’s arms, “Just about everything Tony. He doesn’t know how I like my coffee in the mornings. He also doesn’t know that I absolutely _despise_ being cold and that despite popular opinion, you’re not the blanket hog, I am. He doesn’t know that you’re my favorite thing to wake up to. He doesn’t know that I actually don’t like eating vegetables and that dragging you to bed after a shop binge is one of my all time favorite things to do. He doesn’t know”

Tony shut him up with a kiss, “Okay, okay! I get it!”

Steve’s expression turned serious, “Why didn’t you just talk to me, baby? You know you can come to me about anything, right?”

Cuddling closer, Tony was silent for bit before speaking, “I just, I thought, I saw your face when you saw him in that bunker. And I just thought that you wouldn’t want me anymore. And I thought that if I distanced myself, it would hurt less when you asked for the divorce.”

Steve opened his mouth the speak, but Tony held up a hand, “Just let me finish? I know now that that was dumb and unnecessary. I realize that my fears were entirely unwarranted. But I just, good things end up going bad for me at one time or another. I didn’t know how to react. I’m sorry, Steve. Can you ever forgive me?”

He got a kiss before a verbal response, “Tony, the day I don’t forgive you is the day you have full permission to throw me off the roof. I love you and that’s not going to change. I married you and we have two wonderful kids together. I just don’t understand why you didn’t talk to me. We’ve established that communication is necessary. Why didn’t you just talk to me, baby?”

“Can we go upstairs to our bed before we get any further into this? You and your youthfulness might be just fine sitting on this floor, but I, as old as I am, am most certainly not.”

Steve laughed before kissing Tony again, “Of course.” He got up and offered Tony his hand, “After you, your majesty.”

Tony just smacked his chest when he got up.

.

.

“Sargant Barnes?”

Bucky looked up from his book, “Yes, JARVIS?”

“It appears that you and Miss Romanov will be needed to take care of the children in the morning. Shall I alert you when they wake?”

A small smile appeared on his face, “Yeah, J. Thanks.”

.

.

Steve and Tony talked long into the night. They talked about communication like they hadn’t since they first started dating. They reminisced about the early days of their relationship and about when Peter was baby. They laughed, they cried, they kissed probably more than necessary. They did other things too, they were married after all.

Suffice to say, the road to recovery would be a long one, but everything would be better after a good night’s sleep.  

.

.

The couple didn’t wake up until afternoon the next day. But the important thing? They woke up together. They woke up together for the first time in almost two months. They woke up together with smiles on their faces and lazy good morning kisses. They woke up together and JARVIS notified them that Bucky had taken the kids to his floor for the day. They woke up together and ate together and talked together. For an entire day, they did absolutely everything together. It was like being on their honeymoon all over again.

They were laying in bed, just being together, when Steve started talking, “Promise me you’ll talk to me?”

Tony sat up, propping his head on his fist, “There’s no promise I’d rather make. You might have to pry things out of me every once in a while though. We both know I don’t like talking.”

Steve honest to God giggled and brushed a kiss over Tony’s lips, “Whatever it takes. You’re stuck with me for good, Mr. Stark.”

Tony’s nose wrinkled at the title, “Don’t call me Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark was my father. Whatever happened to those sweet little nicknames?”

“Point taken, _sweetheart_. You.” Steve kissed his forehead. “Are not.” He dropped another one on Tony’s nose. “Mr. Stark.” Finally, a kiss on his lips.

The grin on Tony’s face outweighed his sassy, sarcastic tone, “Glad we could get that worked out, babe.”

.

.

The kids were returned the next morning. Thankfully, when they jumped on the bed to wake up their parents, their parents were fully clothed.

“Papa!”

“Daddy!”

Steve watched as a ginormous smile spread across Tony’s face.

“Hey, squirt. Hi, peanut! Did you guys have fun with Uncle Bucky?”

Peter was the first to speak up, ‘Yeah daddy! Lots of fun! Aunty Tasha came over and then Uncle Clint came over and then we made volcanoes from soap and vinegar and this weird white stuff.” Peter paused to breathe, “But daddy, we haven’t seen you in ages! Where have you been?”

“Yeah, daddy. We missed you lots!” Peggy was still bouncing around on the bed.

Tony’s smile was slightly subdued for a moment, “Daddy had a lot of work to get done. But he’s back for good now. I’m not going anywhere for a while, okay squirts?”

Peggy and Peter were already scrambling off the bed, “We want breakfast! Pancakes, daddy! Pancakes!”

Tony rolled over in bed and groaned. Steve just laughed at him, “You know you make the better pancakes, babe. They haven’t had them in ages.”

Throwing the covers off, Tony got up. He threw Peggy over his shoulder, she squealed in delight. Peter tried to get away, but not before Tony had him under one arm, carrying them both towards the kitchen, the air filled with joyous squeals.

When Steve finally made it to the kitchen, he couldn’t help but smile. Tony was making pancakes and the kids were “helping”. More than anything, they were making a mess with the flour and chocolate chips and blueberries, but they were happy and Tony was laughing and Steve thought it might have been the most wonderful thing he had seen or heard in a while.

Of course, with their luck and their lives, the peace couldn’t last. They were all just sitting down to eat when JARVIS interrupted them.

“Sirs, I regret to interrupt this time, but Director Fury has labeled the current situation as a Level 7. You are both needed at SHIELD headquarters immediately.”

In unison, Tony and Steve groaned, the kids whined, but they all got up from the table. Bucky and Pepper had already been notified. They were in the penthouse within the next five minutes.

Steve had his uniform on already and was strapping the shield to his back. Tony had his flight suit on and the platform was primed and ready.

“Daddy, do you have to go?” Tony was holding Peter, the boy understandably didn’t want to let him go.

“Yeah, Petey, I do. Papa and me will be back just as soon as we can, huh? And then we’ll just have to make some more pancakes, yeah?”

Peter nodded miserably, burying his face in Tony’s shoulder. Tony just cuddled Peter as close as he possibly could.

Steve was trying to reassure Peggy as best he could, “We’ll be back real soon, sweetheart, okay? Director Fury just needs papa and daddy right now. But when we get back, we’ll get all the blankets and pillows and build a pillow fort in the living room, okay? We’ll be back soon, sweetheart.”

Peggy just whined, not wanting to let go, but knowing that she had to. “Don’t want you or daddy to go, papa. Want you to stay here.”

His heart breaking as he did so, Steve kissed the top of her head and handed her to Pepper. Peggy started crying and Pepper was immediately comforting and shushing the girl. Bucky was in a similar situation with Peter.

Tony and Steve took one last look at their kids before they headed for the assembly platform.


	21. Newbies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit more of the twins in this chapter. I just want to say right now that this fic holds none of my opinions on any of the characters. There are some that I like more than others, but I withhold judgement within this fic. Also, there might be a few less chapters in this fic than I was intending. The next few chapters just kind of took on a life of their own. Just warning you. If it goes the way I think it's going, there may not be another work in this series either. I'm not too sure about anything right now though. Thanks for reading!

They landed at SHIELD and immediately stormed in the front doors. Everyone cleared a path, not wishing to get in the way of the most powerful couple on earth.

Fury met them in the lobby.

“This better be fucking good, Fury, or so help me god.” Tony was livid and Steve wasn’t very far off.

“Oh, it’s good, Stark. You’re both gonna want to see this. Walk with me.” He turned and started to walk down one of the hallways.

“You know those HYDRA files you shared with us a while back? The personnel files that your programs couldn’t handle on their own?”

Tony was still glaring, “You mean the ones with the glitches that I fixed and then you wouldn’t give the damn files back? Yeah, I remember those, what’s your point?”

“We found two of them that you might be very interested in meeting. More accurately, they came to us. Either way, you’re both going to want to see this.”

He opened the door and the billionaire very nearly fainted, his supersoldier husband not very far behind. They had both seen the pictures Tony had found in HYDRA’s files. Tony had seen them first and then Steve had been shown by SHIELD. But all of the pictures and descriptions in the world couldn’t have prepared them for this.

Fury had opened the door on the only two livings examples of HYRDA’S human experimentation, the Maximoff twins. They were locked on separate sides of the same room. He was running circles and looked like a silver blur in the room. She was slowly raising different objects in her room and throwing them against the plexi-glass.

“They showed up on the front step about an hour ago. Barton knocked ‘em out with tranq arrows pretty quick. They’ve been here ever since.”

Steve quickly rounded on Fury, “And why were we needed for this? It seems like you have this all under control. Why is this considered a Level 7?”

His husband was quick on his heels, “Give me one fucking reason you pulled me away from my kids for this? One good fucking reason I shouldn’t walk back out the door right now?”

Sharon rounded the corner. She had apparently heard their conversation, because she was laughing at them. Why they didn’t know, but Tony certainly wasn’t afraid to ask.

“Any particular reason you’re laughing like a maniac, dearest cousin? Because if there is, do please enlighten us.”

The agent snorted before responding, “You don’t happen to wonder why your children were taken to the same base as Barnes and these two? Three of HYDRA’s most successful human experiments? I knew Steve could be dumb sometimes, but c’mon Tony, don’t tell me you never thought about that.”

Steve frowned at Sharon, before all the pieces started to click into place. Human experimentation. HYDRA had originally taken both of the kids but had given up Peggy rather easily. It was Peter they had kept longer. Peter who was already enhanced.

He turned to look at Tony, who apparently had been thinking along the same lines, “Those sons of bitches.”

He had already turned to look at the twins, “Do you think they know anything? Or were they victims? How much info do we have to work with here?”

“From our intel,” Sharon threw the tablet at Tony, “it appears that originally, the twins signed on willingly for the experiment. However, we also think they were given false information to begin with. After this, there were several documentations of escape attempts that were unsuccessful. You rescuing Peter was their chance to get out. Why they came to us we don’t know.”

Steve looked up from reading over Tony’s shoulder, “They joined because a Stark weapon killed their parents?”

“And they were told they’d be able to get revenge?” Tony looked genuinely concerned.

Fury and Sharon nodded in unison.

“Well,” Tony looked at Steve, “might as well bring them to the tower.”

Flabbergasted, it took Steve a minute to talk, “You want to do what now? Tony, you do remember we have two small children at home, not to mention the rest of the team lives there? Are you out of your ever-loving mind?!?!”

“I know, I know. I can’t believe I’m saying it either, but the best place to keep potential enemies is close. And if we keep them at the tower, JARVIS can keep an eye on them. They won’t be able to do much.”

.

.

Somehow, an hour and a half later, Tony and Steve were flying back to the tower. With a SHIELD convoy driving below them, driving the Maximoff twins to the tower. Steve wasn’t entirely sure _when_ they had agreed on this, but it had happened, and Tony had assured him that the twins wouldn’t get anywhere near Peggy or Peter.

“Are we sure this is the right thing to do right now, Tony?” The last part of the question went unspoken between them. The part where they were just beginning to repair their relationship and put their family back together. Yeah, that part.

Steve heard Tony sigh through the speakers, “I’m not sure of anything right now, baby. I just know that these kids may or may not have information. I’m also assuming that they’re probably pretty scared. And if there’s one thing we know how to deal with, it’s scared kids.”

He really wanted to argue with his husband more on this, he really did. But Steve couldn’t find fault with any of his reasoning. He just sighed and went along with it all. Maybe Tony was right and maybe something good might come out of this. Tony usually wasn’t wrong.

.

.

The twins were housed on the floor under all the teams’. It kept them fairly close to people Tony and Steve trusted, but not so close that it would make anyone twitchy. JARVIS had the floor on lockdown, ensuring that neither of them could get out and there were SHIELD agents patrolling the exterior of the building 24/7 now.

Suffice to say, there was enough security surrounding their potential criminals for the family to remake the pancakes that had been abandoned earlier. The kitchen, and the kids, was once again a mess, but it just made Tony and Steve smile all the more. They hadn’t been together like this, with the kids, since Peter had first come home. They were all relearning how to react and act around each other. But it was good. They were good. Life was good.

“Papa?”

Steve looked up from cutting Peggy’s pancakes and started laughing. Peter, somehow, had managed to absolutely _cover_ himself in maple syrup. He hadn’t just spilled a little here and there, it looked like the whole bottle had come open when he was trying to pour it.

Tony walked in with more pancakes. He took one look between Peter and Steve, groaned once, and then started laughing right along with Steve. Peggy soon joined in and then Peter was on the verge of tears.

“It’s not funny, Peggy! Daddy! It’s all sticky and yucky and cold. Help me!”

Tony set the plate of pancakes on the table and scooped Peter into his arms, uncaring of the maple syrup that was steadily getting everywhere, “Okay, Petey. Let’s get you a bath and then a change of clothes, huh, squirt?”

Peter nodded, seeming very much happier with this than having the whole family laughing at him. He was content to let Tony carry him to the bathroom for a bath, while Steve went back to cutting Peggy’s pancakes. Or he would have, except that Peggy had apparently not wanted to be left out. She had dumped the whole plate, the pancakes _and_ syrup over her head. Steve groaned before swinging her into his arms and following Tony to the bathroom.

.

.

“Was this your brilliant plan? To get us stuffed in Stark Tower, surrounded by the fucking _Avengers_? Huh, Pietro? Was that your brilliant plan?” Wanda was clearly livid, not caring of who heard her.

The speedster’s head was buried in the fridge, so his response was mumbled, “No, but it’s really not so bad, is it? I mean, we get our own floor, unlimited access to just about anything we could want, _and_ we could both eventually be Avengers. What’s your deal?”

Wanda stomped off, fuming, planning, and not being able to believe how naïve her brother was being. The next person that came through the elevator doors was hers, her brother could go fuck himself.


	22. Expanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter before the epilogue. At this point, I don't foresee continuing this series anymore. There might be a few one-shots but I don't see writing another long fic like this one. If you have any ideas for another longer fic with this series, leave me a comment. Thanks for reading!

The first time Wanda tried to get out, Clint had an arrow stuck on her forehead before the doors had even finished opening. The second try, she had tried the stairs, but then the guards came in the elevator. The third attempt, she tried escaping off the balcony, just to get out of there, but one of the suits had come and escorted her back inside.

Her bastard of a brother just laughed _every single time_.

.

.

A week later, Tony sent Wanda back to SHIELD. She clearly didn’t want to be in the tower and she was starting to pose a threat to the inhabitants. Suffice to say, she wasn’t entirely thrilled with being sent back, especially without her brother.

Pietro was in a completely different boat. He was loving living at the tower. After Clint had electrocuted Wanda, Pietro had initially hated the archer. After the third or fourth escape attempt though, they formed some weird kind of father-son bond. But not really because nobody in their right mind would think of Clint as fatherly.

Surprisingly, Peter and Peggy thought the boy was a hoot. Steve and Tony had been reluctant to let Pietro around the kids, but once they knew him? Wild horses couldn’t have kept them away. He’d run around the floor and they’d laugh like hyenas at the streaks he left behind. Peggy had nearly puked the first time she was given a piggy back, but Peter just demanded another.

.

.

Tony was working on some SI paperwork in his office when he heard the elevator opening.

“Pietro!”

Peter and Peggy’s exclamations brought him out of the office. He started laughing when he took in the scene in front of him. His children had apparently tackled the speedster when he came in and now all three of them were on the ground in some semblance of a puppy pile. Steve’s laugh joined Tony’s when he walked out of the kitchen where he had been making dinner.

Bucky and Nat came up in the elevator and then the kids’ focus was shifted from Pietro.

“Papa! Everyone’s here! Can we play hide n seek now? Please, please, please, can we?”

Steve took one look at Peggy’s puppy eyes and agreed. It was hard to withstand those things, they were irresistible.

You’d think that playing hide n seek with two ex-assassins would be rather annoying, but with the kids, they were perfect. They hid in places that were almost too easy, but the kids could find them after looking for a bit. Those two had blossomed together and got along with the kiddos swimmingly. Tony had a bet going with Steve that Nat and Bucky had moved in together, Steve didn’t believe him.

_“Bucky and Nat? Are you kidding me, Tony? Those two? A couple?”_

_“I’m just saying Steve,” Tony came out of the bathroom holding a towel around his hips, “it’s entirely possible. They’ve got more in common than you’d think and Barnes totally has the hots for Nat.”_

_Steve looked back at Tony with doubt in his eyes, but he couldn’t stop staring at his husband. To speed things along, Tony made a decision._

_“Bet on it?”_

_The smirk that spread across Steve’s face was downright sinful, “You’re on. A whole week of dish and laundry duty is on the line here, husband dearest. You’re on.”_

That had turned into a fantastic night.

Tonight though, might be even more memorable. Digging through the files that they could piece together, Tony and the team had figured out that the twins were still minors. Their parents had died three years ago, when the twins were eleven. Pietro being the only one who stayed with them, Steve and Tony had something to ask the silver haired speedster that had worked his way into their hearts.

They waited until after dinner, when the kids were in bed and the Russian Sweethearts (as Tony had so affectionately named them) had left.

Pietro yawned from his spot on the couch, “I should probably get going, it’s been a long day and I’m sure you guys want to get some sleep.”

He was spread out on the couch, while the superhusbands were curled together on the loveseat. They sat up while he was stretching.

Steve was the first to speak, “Actually Pietro, we’ve got something we want to discuss with you before you go. If that’s okay?”

Tony’s heart broke just a little at the look of terror and panic that washed over the boy’s face and just a little more at his response.

“I can leave tomorrow if that’s what this is about. Wanda won’t be thrilled but Fury said that I’m welcome back at SHIELD anytime and I’ve already overstayed my welcome and”

And that’s where Tony stopped him, “Whoa, sport. Slow your horse there. That’s not at all what we were going to say. Just hear us out, okay?”

The boy nodded before settling back against the couch. Tony continued, he was on a roll here.

“Just know that you don’t have to give us an answer right away. We’re prepared to give you as much time as you need to give us an answer.”

They got another nod from Pietro and then Steve took over, “We know you’re still a minor. And yes, you’ve been on your own for a few years now, but legally here in the States, if you’re a minor you need a guardian. Tony and I, we’ve been talking about it a lot, and uhm, well, if you’d be okay with it, we’d uh, well we uhh.”

Tony dropped a kiss on his temple before turning to Pietro, “What my darling husband is trying to say Pietro, is that we’d like to legally adopt you. You wouldn’t have to take one of our last names and we wouldn’t expect you to call either of us dad or anything. But we do want you to stay here for as long as you want and the kids already love you like a brother and”

Tony was prepared to go on, when Pietro gave them an immediate response, “Yes!”

He was running over to give them hugs before Steve could even come up with a response. The boy was clearly trying not to cry, but he wasn’t having much luck. For that matter, neither were Steve or Tony. Their family was expanding with a boy who desperately needed a family. They were more than happy to open their arms, hearts, and home to him. Pietro was hugging both of them at this point and none of them could have been happier in that moment.  

.

.

A few weeks later (Tony’s lawyers worked their magic again), Pietro Maximoff officially became Pietro Maximoff Stark-Rogers. They had discussed it at length and Pietro had wanted to take the same last name as his new siblings. Other than Wanda, the boy hadn’t had a family in almost four years, sharing the last name made him feel more like family and like he belonged there.

Peter and Peggy were over the moon to have a new brother, and a big brother at that. Peggy already had Peter, but Peter was absolutely thrilled to have a big brother. The two bonded over the fact that they had powers and it turned out that Pietro was very intelligent. He and Peter were down in the shop almost everyday with Tony.

Peggy sometimes tagged along, but she wasn’t quite on par with her brothers. The girl was whip smart for a three year old, but she preferred playing with the bots over anything and DUM-E and U were thrilled someone other than Steve wanted to play with them.

One day, Steve came down to the shop. All of his resident geniuses had been down in the shop for hours and hadn’t come up for lunch. He simply brought it down. No one noticed immediately when the doors opened and Steve had a minute to just watch; to just look at what he and Tony had built together. They had gotten off to an awfully rocky start, but looking at the family they had put together, you never would have thought that. His thoughts were interrupted by Peggy, who had finally noticed that papa had brought them lunch.

“Peter! Pietro! Papa has lunch! Daddy, papa brought lunch!”

Pietro had Peter in his arms in a split second, dashing them both over to the open workbench where Steve was putting out the food. Tony followed behind them at a normal pace, laughing at the boys’ eagerness to get to food. Steve leaned down to kiss his husband and then his daughter, who was tugging on the bottom shirt impatiently. Eventually, the family settled around the workbench, eating, talking, and laughing about their day.


	23. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it guys! It's finally finished! I did add another part to this series. Some of you were asking about what happened to Wanda and that one shot explains. You should probably go read that before reading this epilogue. I really appreciate all of you! You guys don't even know how much. As always, thanks for reading!

_Three Years Later_

_Three Years Later_

“Peter! Peggy! We’re gonna be late! C’mon guys, your father will kill me if we’re late.” Steve was tugging down the sleeves of his suit jacket when his two youngest spilled out of the hallway. He couldn’t decide whether to laugh or to coo at the cuteness. Peggy was six now and learning what went with what fashion wise. Apparently, she had been in the middle of trying on another outfit because her dress was only half zipped.  Peter had parts of his suit on, but the jacket was trailing behind him and his shirt was only half buttoned.

Thankfully, the elevator opened and Bucky walked out. Tony hadn’t been wrong about Bucky an Nat, they had gotten together. Unfortunately, by the time everyone had found out, Steve and Tony’s bet had escalated. Details are unnecessary, but there were a few nights that Steve didn’t get much sleep and not in the good way.

Bucky started laughing the minute he saw the kids, “Stevie, I thought you’d been a parent for a few years now. What the heck is going on?” He was already helping Peter fix his suit.

“Ya know, Buck, I’m really not sure. They both told me they could manage getting dressed on their own.” With this, Steve leveled his children with a playful glare.

Peggy just giggled while he zipped up her dress and led her off to find some different shoes. Converse were fine for the first grade, but not so much high school graduations.

.

.

Ten minutes later, they were all piled in the limo, just a few minutes off of the meticulous schedule that Pepper had put together for today. Honestly, Steve was surprised they made it out of the tower at all. Every time they were about to leave, someone forgot something. Commanding a battlefield was easy. Herding a bunch of people into the car on time, now that was a completely different situation.

Steve wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. On the way there, Peter and Peggy were preoccupied with Bucky, so he had a few minutes to just sit and think. About how his and Tony’s relationship had started.

_“Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away and what are you?”_

_“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”_

Those days hadn’t been easy, but they had led to this wonderful life they had now. Steve knew for a fact that he wouldn’t have traded those for the world.

And then a few years after that, when they finally decided they both wanted children.

_“Screw practical, Steve! Our jobs aren’t practical! Why do we need to be practical? I’m a freaking billionaire! Which means, by extension, so are you!”_

_“What happens if something happens to us Tony? Huh? What then? Because if one of us goes, then it’s most likely gonna mean that the rest of the team is gone too! What then? Who else is there?”_

Oh, he couldn’t forget the arguments they’d had before bringing Peggy home.

_“Sarah!”_

_“Maria!”_

_“Sarah!”_

_“Maria!”_

_Bruce rubbed his temples, “Just pick a different name!”_

_Both Steve and Tony simultaneously looked at him, “No!”_

 

He shuddered at the thought of the kidnapping, but thankfully no one noticed. That was one memory he hadn’t wanted to relive. Not knowing where your children were? Not knowing if the next time you saw them they were going to be alive or dead? Steve had no desire to relive those memories in any way, shape, or form.

 

Steve couldn’t help but also smile at some of those memories though. After all, Peter and Peggy getting kidnapped had led to them adopting Pietro. That was definitely something positive. The boy had been hesitant around the family at first, but now? None of them could imagine life without the silver haired speedster running around.

 

It had been a long road in between then and now. There were certainly ups and downs, having superheroes make up your entire family was a bit different than the average family. Pietro had insisted on going on missions with the Avengers when he turned seventeen and every time, his parents just about had a heart attack out of worry. Sure, the boy was faster than anyone they had ever seen, but that didn’t mean his parents didn’t worry about the worst case scenario every time he went out on a mission.

 

Vaguely he heard someone talking, “Steve? Hello? Earth to Stevie! Anyone home in there?”

 

The supersoldier shook his head when he realized Bucky was talking to him, “Yeah, Buck, I’m here, just thinking about things.”

.

.

.

.

“Oh, thank god you’re all here! I thought you weren’t going to make it! Steve, we had a Pepper designed schedule! What happened?”

 

Bucky was getting a similar speech from Nat, Wanda had desperately wanted her father to be there and was worried when he wasn’t there on time.

 

Even as he was berating his husband, Tony stepped forward to hug him. After all these years, just a hug from Steve had the power to calm him down.

 

They stayed locked together long enough for Steve to murmur his response, “Sorry, sweetheart. The kids had a few wardrobe malfunctions and then well, there were just things that needed to be taken care of before we left. But we’re here now. And we’re gonna go watch our son graduate high school, can you believe that?”

 

Tony pulled back and laughed, “You bet your ass I can’t believe that Steve! I feel so old!”

Peggy walked over to Tony and hugged him, “You’re not old, daddy. Papa’s a lot older than you. So is Uncle Bucky. Either way, you’re not old.”

The genius smiled at that and dropped a kiss on top of Peggy’s head, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go watch our boy graduate!”

.

.

An hour later, Tony was sitting in the audience watching Pietro walking onto stage to receive his diploma. The kid was genius level smart and was going to be going to MIT in the fall, just like Tony had. It was hard to believe that this was his life now. He had a wonderful husband, three kids, one who was graduating, and an entire team who had his back at any given time. They had come so far since first meeting it wasn’t even funny, but it was a good life and Tony wouldn’t have given it up for the world.

Steve leaned over to whisper in his ear, “We did good, didn’t we?”

Tony turned his head to kiss Steve before he answered, “Yeah, Steve. We did good.”


End file.
